Un Banquet d'hippophages

Executed in lithography, the work relies on quick, gestural lines that convey immediacy and liveliness. Daumier’s characteristic caricatural exaggeration is achieved through bold contouring and minimal shading, allowing the scene’s comedic energy to dominate. The sketch‑like quality of the drawing underscores its origin as a newspaper illustration, where speed of production was essential.

First published in the satirical journal Le Charivari shortly after its creation, the lithograph circulated widely among the urban readership that followed Daumier’s political commentary. Original stones and early impressions are now held in several European museum collections, reflecting the work’s role as both a historical document of 1860s French press culture and a representative example of Daumier’s print output.

Un Banquet d’hippophages thus functions as a visual footnote to the broader debates over food safety and class consumption in nineteenth‑century France.

The image belongs to a prolific period in Daumier’s career when he targeted social and political excesses through caricature. Amid the turmoil of the Second Empire, his prints served as visual editorials, shaping public opinion about corruption, class privilege and the hypocrisy of the ruling elite. Un Banquet d’hippophages thus functions as a visual footnote to the broader debates over food safety and class consumption in nineteenth‑century France.