1841
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Le Préfet de l'Empire is a 1841 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows a man in a big black top hat and a puffy coat, leaning on a cane. He’s holding a cane in one hand and adjusting his hat with the other. Behind him, a window reveals a dimly lit room with a bed and a small table. The lines are loose and sketchy, giving the whole thing a quick, almost hurried feel. The title *Le Préfet de l’Empire* hints this is a caricature of a French official from the time. The artist used sharp, exaggerated lines to mock his subject—notice how the man’s belly sticks out comically. Want to see more like this? Check out lithography to learn how artists like Daumier made prints cheap and fast.
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.
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