Pardon my friend..... let's verify my powers before yours!, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, July 16, 1869

Art Historical Context

In the bustling world of 19th-century Parisian satire, Honoré Daumier, collaborators Walter Frères and Arnaud deresse, crafted this lively lithograph titled *Pardon my friend..... verify my powers before yours*, published in the July 16, 1869, edition of *Le Charivari*'s "News of the" section. *Le Charivari*, a pioneering French humor newspaper, was a hotbed for political and social caricature during the Second under Napoleon III, skewering the era's hypocrisies, pretensions, and power plays. Daumier, a virtuoso of the form, often used pseudonyms like these to navigate censorship while delivering sharp-witted commentary. This second-state impression on newsprint captures the immediacy of ephemera-turned-art, with its bold lines and exaggerated expressions typical of Daumier's style—rooted in Realism yet amplified for comic effect. Featuring men and women in a cheeky exchange that pokes fun at boasts of authority or prowess, it reflects the cultural zeitgeist of a society obsessed with status and spectacle. Lithography's affordability allowed such prints to reach wide audiences, making satire a democratic weapon against the elite. Today, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department (gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1960), this 9 5/16 × 8 1/16 in. gem reminds us how Daumier's incisive humor endures, bridging 1869's scandals to our own era of performative power.

About the Artist

Walter Frères|Arnaud de Vresse|Honoré Daumier (French|French|French) · 1856 |1808 | –1870 |1879 |

|French, Marseilles 1808–1879 Valmondois|