Les Propos de Thomas Vireloque: The old story, my lambkins

Art Historical Context

Paul Gavarni's *Les Propos de Thomas Vloque: The old, my lambkins* (1852) is a charming lithograph capturing the wit and whimsy of mid-19th-century French culture. Created in black ink on cream wove paper, the intimate image measures just 19 × 16 cm, while the full sheet spans 34.4 × 24.7 cm—perfect for affordable reproduction and display in Parisian homes or journals. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings Department, this piece exemplifies Gavarni's mastery lithography, a technique he helped popularize for its fluid lines and tonal subtlety, allowing artists to mimic drawing with remarkable precision. Gavarni, a leading caricaturist of the Romantic era, often depicted everyday Parisian life with satirical flair, contributing to publications like *Le Charivari*. This work belongs to his *Les Propos de Thomas Vireloque* series, featuring the fictional folksy character delivering proverbial wisdom in humorous vignettes. The title's playful English translation ("The old story, my lambkins") hints at a lighthearted moral tale, reflecting the era's fascination with illustrated proverbs amid France's Second Empire social shifts. Lithographs like this democratized art, bridging high culture and the masses, and offer a window into 1850s humor and language. A delightful gem for visitors, it reminds us how prints preserved the vivacity of spoken traditions.

About the Artist

Paul Gavarni

Paul Gavarni, born Sulpice Guillaume Chevalier on January 13, 1804, in Paris to a cooper father from Burgundy and mother Marie-Monique Thiémet—whose brother, painter Guillaume Thiémet, served as his godfather—began his career far from the art world. As a youth, he worked in a machine factory and studied mechanical drawing at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers in 1818, followed by evening classe...