Artwork

Descente dans les Ateliers de la Liberté de la presse (Raid on the Workshops of the Freedom of the Press)

Descente dans les Ateliers de la Liberté de la presse (Raid on the Workshops of the Freedom of the Press) is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Jean-Ignace-Isidore Grandville. It dates from 1833 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.

Inscription: Inscribed:upper left above image: 16me. Dessin de l'Association (Mois de Novembre); below image: Chez Aubert, galerie véro dodat; DESCENT... / en choeur: Travaillons / Dépêchons / Gagnons bien notre argent!; lower right below image: L. de Becquet, rue Furstemberg 6.; lower left in image: J J. Grandville et AD

About this work

Overview

Descente dans les Ateliers de la Liberté de la presse is a lithograph on wove paper created by Jean-Ignace-Isidore Grandville in 1833.

Subject & Meaning

The print depicts a chaotic scene of people destroying a printing press in a cluttered workshop, likely symbolizing an attack on a press that advocated for free speech and protesting censorship.

Technique & Style

Grandville employed sharp lines and exaggerated expressions to convey the intensity of the scene, utilizing the lithography technique to produce the image.