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: 27cm
width: 36. 6cm
dimensions - image:
height: 16. 3cm
width: 19. 2cm
dimensions - mounting:
height: 50cm
width: 40cm
description:
colored print
marks, inscriptions, hallmarks:
title of the work - above the image: administrative morals
caption - under the image: two hours / walks in the interior of the ministry, hats replace those absent
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:
an empty administration office. At the back of the room sits the tiled stove. On the two secretaries are placed writing desks and quills in their inkwells. On one of the walls is fixed a shelf filled with archive boxes. Top hats are placed everywhere. 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 the superior woman, renamed the employees. Its profit the distrust between revenue and expenditure, it slandered the administration for the salvation of the administrator finally it invented the lilliputian threads which chain france to parisian centralization, as if, from 1500 to 1800, france could not have done anything without thirty thousand clerks. [excerpt from the employees or the superior woman, by honoré de balzac]
themes / subjects / places represented:
social subject, morals, office, stove, top hat
institution: maison de balzac
inventory number: bal91. 31. Date: Unknown.
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