Crayfish at Longchamps, Eugène Delacroix, 1822

Satire on censorship and the royalist press, two of the pillars of ultra opinion; a race at longchamps with, in the distance, riders on horses moving along the champs-élysées towards the (unfinished) étoile arch, while in the foreground a deviation from the race by two odd carriages each pulled by a crayfish going backwards (facing the opposite direction from their riders): in the centre, one of these carriages bears a group comprising wigged men in uniform ('voltigeurs' identified by 'le miroir' as press censors and academicians) and a woman in outdated dress ('la quotidienne'), one of whom has a speech bubble with the motto of the order of the crayfish "en arrière, marche!!!", while behind them, to the left, a smaller carriage flying the banner with the scissors of censorship and bearing the 'éteignoir' (candle-snuffer)-shaped or 'pain de sucre' (sugar-loaf) figure of the censor marie-joseph pain on a chair (the censor lachaize); in the foreground to left, two bystanders, one (possibly delacroix himself) blowing a whistle at the at the two carriages; published in 'le miroir', 4th april 1822 lithograph. Date: 1822. Dimensions: Height: 199 mm; Width: 307 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Eugène Delacroix. Collection: British Museum. Les écrevisses à Longchamps (Crayfish at Longchamps) (BM 1987,0516.40)