Le PRÉFET DE L'EMPIRE. Diable, diable! j'ai exploité Véry, Véfour, le Café Anglais, j'ai fait des poufs, sous prétexte d'un poste important que j'attends... me voilà descendu aux diners de 32 sous et on me donne mon compte.... il faut que je change de position.... .je vais me faire banquier qui a oublié sa bourse.
Le PRÉFET DE L'EMPIRE. Diable, diable! j'ai exploité Véry, Véfour, le Café Anglais, j'ai fait des poufs, sous prétexte d'un poste important que j'attends... me voilà descendu aux diners de 32 sous et on me donne mon compte.... il faut que je change de position.... .je vais me faire banquier qui a oublié sa bourse.
Title (alt.):
THE PERFECT OF THE EMPIRE. Blasted, blasted! I have exploited Véry, Véfour, the English Café, I have put on airs and pretended to be waiting for a very important post... but now I am down to dinners that cost 32 sous and they dare to give me my bill.... I must change my position soon... I will be a banker who has forgotten his purse.. Charivari
Description:
VEFOUR (Le Grand) was the owner of a restaurant in 1841, located in Rue de Beaujolais, close to the Palais Royal. VERY was a restaurant which was founded in 1805 and located close to the Palais-Royal. It was one of the best restaurants for the bourgeois elite in Paris. In 1892 it was blown up by anarchists. This series shows the readiness to engage in risky enterprises, the dream of easy money, and the greedy hope for immediate fulfilment of all wishes without responsible involvement. Daumier denudes the ruthless materialistic attitude of his time. At the same time the series shows the bizarre of these outcasts of civilization, expertly drawn and described by Daumier. We follow the debris of all classes and ranks: the man of letters to the clipper of dogs, the old business man and the political refugee, the Chief Administrator of the Empire and the used clothes merchant. It is this mixture of diversity, hope, despair and chance which makes this series so real and meaningful even by today's standards. While shocking and sometimes even repulsive these prints leave the attentive spectator with a feeling of sorrow and sadness but at the same time with awe about the ingenuity of fellowmen in distress, hoping to pull themselves out of their misery - sometimes the Munchhausian way.
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:
3rd state.
Published in: Le Charivari, December 28, 1841.
Notes (acquisition):
Donated by: Benjamin A. and Julia M. Trustman, 1959.
