Author(s):
monnier, henry bonaventure (paris, 07–06–1799 - paris, 03–01–1877 — 3–6–1877), designer-lithographer
delpech, françois seraphin (orléans, 1778 - 1825), printer
other title: administrative morals (series title)
dating in century: 19th century
type(s) of object(s): graphic arts, print
name(s): print
materials and techniques: vellum paper, watercolor, lithography
dimensions - artwork:
height: 25. 8cm
width: 34. 9cm
dimensions - picture:
height: 16. 7cm
width: 16. 7cm
dimensions - mounting:
height: 50cm
width: 40cm
description:
colored print
marks, inscriptions, hallmarks:
title of the work - above the work: administrative morals
caption - under the image: ten o'clock/reading the newspapers, lunch, feather trimming. Inscription concerning the author - under the lower left image: henry monnier
registration concerning the test - under the lower right image: i. Lith de delpech
iconographic description:
nine employees crowd into an office cluttered with armchairs, shelves, secretaries, screen and stove. Some sit and read the newspaper, another leans over with his bellows in hand to rekindle the fire in the stove. Two archive boxes are placed on the ground. Actor, playwright and designer, henry monnier helped illustrate la comédie humaine. His engravings of administrative morals, and especially his play scenes from bureaucratic life, clearly inspired balzac for his novel la femme supérieure, renamed les employés. "to establish a government at the heart of a nation, one must know how to attach interests and not men to it. Driven to despise the government which withdrew him both consideration and salary, the employee at that moment behaved towards him like a courtesan with an old lover, he gave him work for his money: a situation as little tolerable for the administration as for the employee, if both dared to feel the pulse, and if the big salaries did not stifle the voice "only concerned with maintaining himself, receiving his salary and arriving at his pension, the employee believed he had everything he could to obtain this great result. This state of affairs led to the servility of the clerk, it generated perpetual intrigues within the ministries where the poor employees fought against a degenerate aristocracy who came to graze on the commons of the bourgeoisie, demanding places for their ruined children. " [excerpt from the employees or the superior woman, by honoré de balzac]
themes / subjects / places represented:
social subject, morals, office worker, newspaper - periodical, quill, frying pan
institution: maison de balzac
inventory number: bal91. 27. Date: Unknown.
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