Artwork
Allons donc... que diable cocher...
Allons donc... que diable cocher... is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Honoré Daumier. It dates from 1843 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1843, this lithograph by Honoré Daumier captures a cramped, rickety carriage packed with three men and a weary horse. The figures are squeezed together, each gripping a different object—a cane, a hat, or the seat—while the uneven road outside suggests a bumpy, uneasy journey. The composition conveys a sense of tension and hurried movement.
Subject & Meaning
The print satirically portrays the discomfort of urban travel, using the overloaded carriage as a metaphor for the social congestion of mid‑nineteenth‑century Paris. By exaggerating the passengers’ cramped posture and the exhausted horse, Daumier critiques the pressures of contemporary life and hints at the broader political unease of a society grappling with republican ideals.
Technique & Style
Daumier employed swift, sketch‑like lines characteristic of his lithographic practice, allowing the figures and horse to appear in motion. The loose drawing technique emphasizes immediacy, while the stark contrasts of black ink on paper heighten the scene’s chaotic energy, reinforcing the feeling of a rushed, disorderly moment.
History & Provenance
The work belongs to Daumier’s extensive series of satirical prints produced for Parisian periodicals such as *La Caricature* and *Le Charivari*. Created during a career that spanned the July Revolution of 1830 to the collapse of the Second Empire, the lithograph reflects the artist’s long‑standing engagement with political commentary through mass‑circulated media.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Honoré-Victorin Daumier was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the Second French Empire in 1870.
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