Il faut des Epoux assortis. An intellectual union. BAL2013.39, En 1827

Author(s): monnier, henry bonaventure (paris, 07–06–1799 - paris, 03–01–1877 — 3–6–1877), designer senefelder et cie, designer-lithographer production date: in 1827 dating in century: 19th century type(s) of object(s): graphic arts, print name(s): print materials and techniques: lithography, vellum paper, watercolor dimensions - artwork: height: 20. 7cm width: 26cm description: colored print marks, inscriptions, hallmarks: title of the work - under the image: matching spouses are needed. An intellectual union. Author inscription - below the image on the right: senefelder lith. Inscription concerning the author - under the image on the left: henry monnier iconographic description: a soldier in a uniform as straight as an i, thick mustache and monocle, has on his arm his wife who is so small that one would think she sees a little girl. The couple is apparently very poorly matched, deliberately giving the lie to the legend of the engraving. 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. The same references to the customs of their time often inspired the two artists in parallel on numerous subjects as we can see in the following extract: "thus, three years after their marriage, these two ill-matched beings each found themselves in their primitive sphere, both happy to return there. The man of money, rich with eighteen hundred thousand francs, returned with all the more force to his avaricious habits, as he had temporarily left; his two clerks and his servant were better housed, a little better fed; such was the difference between the present and the past. His wife had a cook and a maid, two essential servants but, except for the bare necessities, he took nothing out of his fund for his household. Themes / subjects / places represented: social subject, morals, couple, military (profession), uniform, dwarf mode of acquisition: purchase institution: maison de balzac inventory number: bal2013. 39. Date: En 1827.