Artwork
Le Chasseur Parisien
Le Chasseur Parisien is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Honoré Daumier. It dates from 1841 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1841, this lithograph on newsprint by Honoré Daumier presents a solitary figure dressed in a long coat and hat, supported by a cane. The man, styled as a hunter, strides through an unmistakably urban backdrop, juxtaposing rural attire with the bustling streets of Paris. The work exemplifies Daumier’s quick, incisive prints that circulated in the city’s newspapers of the era.
Subject & Meaning
The central character appears as a country hunter displaced into the metropolis, a visual paradox that prompts reflection on social mobility and the intrusion of provincial identities into urban life. By placing a traditionally rural figure amid city architecture, Daumier hints at the absurdities of class pretensions and the blending of disparate social spheres in mid‑nineteenth‑century Paris.
Technique & Style
Executed as a lithograph, the image relies on bold line work and stark contrasts typical of Daumier’s newspaper prints. The rapid, gestural strokes convey movement, while the simplified forms emphasize the figure’s silhouette against a relatively flat urban setting, reinforcing the satirical tone through visual economy.
Context
The print emerged during a period of political turbulence in France, when Daumier regularly targeted the monarchy, the bourgeoisie, and other authority figures in his caricatures. Though this particular image does not depict a specific individual, it aligns with his broader critique of social hierarchies and the shifting roles of citizens within a rapidly modernizing capital.
Legacy
As part of Daumier’s extensive output for Parisian periodicals, the lithograph illustrates his skill in using everyday scenes to comment on societal change. It remains a representative example of how 19th‑century print media could blend humor, observation, and political insight, influencing later generations of satirical illustrators.
Artist & collection
Artist
Honoré-Victorin Daumier was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the Second French Empire in 1870.
