Artwork
Pardon mon cher...
Pardon mon cher... is an ink print by the Impressionist artist Honoré Daumier. It dates from 1869 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
The image presents a female figure draped in a robe marked “Liberté” looming over a male figure ensnared in chains, his limbs tangled as he attempts to escape.
Created in 1869, this lithograph on newsprint is a work by Honoré Daumier, a prolific French caricaturist. The image presents a female figure draped in a robe marked “Liberté” looming over a male figure ensnared in chains, his limbs tangled as he attempts to escape. The composition is set against a loosely rendered, shadowy backdrop that bears the word “Actualités” at the top, and the caption “Pardon mon cher…” runs along the bottom.
Subject & Meaning
The allegorical woman, identified by the inscription “Liberté,” can be read as a personification of liberty or justice extending a hand toward the captive man, who appears to embody an individual constrained by legal or institutional forces. The juxtaposition of freedom offering pardon while the prisoner struggles suggests a critique of the contradictions within contemporary French authority.
Technique & Style
Daumier employed lithography, a printmaking process that involves drawing on a stone surface with greasy media before transferring the image onto paper. Executed on inexpensive newsprint, the work retains a sketch‑like quality, with bold outlines and minimal shading that emphasize the satirical tone. The rough, atmospheric background and the use of textual elements are characteristic of Daumier’s newspaper illustrations.
Context
Produced during the turbulent period between the 1830 July Revolution and the collapse of the Second French Empire in 1870, the print reflects Daumier’s republican sympathies and his habit of targeting the monarchy, aristocracy, and clergy. Working for publications such as La Caricature and Le Charivari, he used his art to comment on the shifting political landscape of mid‑19th‑century France.
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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.
