La mère des gracques. Un jour qu'une Lorette avec effronterie Lui vantait des joyaux qui valaient quelque sous, En montrant ses deux fils, l'espoir et la patrie, Cette Romaine dit: Voilà mes seuls bijoux!! (Plutarque.).
La mère des gracques. Un jour qu'une Lorette avec effronterie Lui vantait des joyaux qui valaient quelque sous, En montrant ses deux fils, l'espoir et la patrie, Cette Romaine dit: Voilà mes seuls bijoux!! (Plutarque.).
Title (alt.):
Mother of the Gracchi. One day a boldly Lorette Boasted that her jewels were worth pennies, By showing her two sons , the hope of the country , The roman woman said: here are my only jewels!! (Plutarch.).. Charivari
Description:
Two women are showing off their prize possessions, their jewels. Daumier's slightly viscious drawing about the virtues of motherhood can be seen as a caricature to Philipp F. Hetschs Cornelia, Mutter der Gracchen, a painting dating back to 1794, which can be seen at the Stuttgarter Staatsgalerie. Here the term "Lorette" is an expression describing "independent ladies". At this time, 1840's, a quarrel between painters of the classic and romantic schools had fully flared up. Delacroix asked the "loaded" question: "Who is going to liberate us from the old Greeks?" Daumier succeeded to answer it his own way by showing historic personalities such as Hercules, Pygmalion or Agamemnon in absurd situations.
Copyright restrictions may apply. For permission to copy or use this image, contact the Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department, Brandeis University Libraries. The following credit line must be included with each item used: Benjamin A. and Julia M. Trustman Collection of Honoré Daumier Lithographs, Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department, Brandeis University.
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Place of origin:
Paris
Notes:
4th state.
Published in: Le Charivari, December 23, 1842.
Notes (acquisition):
Donated by: Benjamin A. and Julia M. Trustman, 1959.
