L'Hotel des Commissaires-priseurs: L'Expert
Medium
wood engraving
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Arthur and Charlotte Vershbow
Accession Number
1978.82.20
Art Historical Context
This 1863 wood engraving, titled *L'Hôtel des Commissaires-priseurs: L'Expert*, captures Honoré Daumier’s sharp satirical gaze on the bustling world of 19th-century Parisian art auctions. Created by engraver Charles Maurand after Daumier’s, the print depicts an “expert” evaluating works at the Hôtel des Commissaires-priseurs, the central auction house that shaped the French art market. Daumier, renowned for his incisive social commentary, often highlighted the pretensions and commerce surrounding art, turning everyday scenes into pointed critiques of bourgeois society. Wood engraving allowed ...