Author(s):
monnier, henry bonaventure (paris, 07–06–1799 - paris, 03–01–1877 — 3–6–1877), designer
delpech, françois seraphin (orléans, 1778 - 1825), designer-lithographer
other title: little human miseries (title of the series)
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: 22. 4cm
width: 28. 9cm
dimensions - image:
height: 17. 6cm
width: 15. 2cm
description:
colored print
marks, inscriptions, hallmarks:
title of the work - above the image: little human miseries
legend - under the image: l'age mur. Ambitious ideas, family to raise, domestic sorrows. Inscription concerning the author - under the image on the right: i. Lith de delpechunder the image on the left: henry monnier
iconographic description:
in a domestic interior a family goes about its business. The father is at his desk, writing. Behind him, four toddlers are playing with musical instruments: drum and pipe. In the background, behind a large screen, a young woman sits on a sofa with her arms crossed and converses with a man. The room is decorated with a large framed portrait of a magistrate and the bust of a man with a wig in the style of the 17th century. 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: "leaning on the back of the chair and slightly inclined, the head of this brave father remained in a pose whose indolence painted a perfect calm, a sweet blossoming of joy. His arms, half asleep, limply thrown out of the armchair, finished expressing a thought of happiness. He contemplated the smallest of his children, a boy barely five years old, who, half naked, refused to let himself be undressed by his mother. The toddler fled from the shirt or the nightcap with which the marquise sometimes threatened him with his embroidered ruff, laughed at his mother when she called him, realizing that she herself laughed at this childish rebellion; mischievous, and who already spoke more clearly than him, whose vague words and confused ideas were barely intelligible to his parents. " [excerpt from the woman of thirty years, by honoré de balzac]
themes / subjects / places represented:
social subject, customs, domestic interior, family, child, musical instrument, writing
institution: maison de balzac
inventory number: bal91. 98. Unknown date
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