- Eh! bien.... puisque vous voulez qu'les bouchers soient libres, pourquoi qu'vous voulez m'empêcher d'prendre la liberté d'mettre qué que z'os dans la balance?.... j'vous trouve drôle, vous encore, la p'tite mère!...
Title (alt.):
- Well.... if you want to liberate the butchers’ trade, why do you want to take away my liberty to weigh a few bones with the meat?.... I find you odd, little mother!.... Charivari
Description:
A butcher is placing bones on the balance while a horrified woman looks on. He claims that she shouldn't be upset as she is for the liberation of the butchers and he is exercising his liberty. On February 24, 1858 a new law ended a monopoly from which some 500 meat stalls and butcheries in Paris had benefited for many years, giving way to free enterprise. Even the scales, manipulated by the butchers in a rather creative way, were suddenly standardized under a governmental system of control. This change, effecting everyday life, motivated Daumier to produce 11 lithographs (DR 3010-3021) as well as a number of drawings and paintings, covering the subject.
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.
Contact host institution for more information.
Place of origin:
Paris
Notes:
2nd state.
Published in: Le Charivari, December 16, 1857.
Notes (acquisition):
Donated by: Benjamin A. and Julia M. Trustman, 1959.
