"When he was sleeping in the sun..." from Scenes from the Private and Public Life of Animals
Medium
Wood engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 10 5/16 × 7 3/16 in. (26.2 × 18.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection. The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
Accession Number
59.500.592(68)
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
Nestled within Honoré de Balzac's masterpiece *Scenes from the Private and Public of Animals* (ca. 1842), the wood engraving "When he was sleeping in sun..." captures a whimsical from this celebrated 19th-century French publication. Balzac, the renowned novelist behind *La Comédie humaine*, penned humorous vignettes skewering human follies through anthropomorphic animals, while illustrator J.J. Grandvillemaster of fantastical caricature—brought them to life with his signature blend of realism and absurdity. Contributions from Andrew Best Leloir highlight the collaborative spirit of the era's printmaking. Grandville's style, rooted in Romanticism and caricature, transforms beasts into bourgeois figures, offering sly commentary on July Monarchy society—from politics to domestic quirks. This engraving, measuring a compact 10 5/16 × 7 3/16 inches, exemplifies wood engraving's precision: fine lines incised into wood blocks allowed for detailed, reproducible images that democratized art via affordable books. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department (The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, 1959), it invites visitors to chuckle at the timeless irony of a sunbathing animal's reverie, reminding us how 1840s satire still resonates in our own "civilized" world.
About the Artist
Honoré de Balzac|Andrew Best Leloir|J. J. Grandville (French|French) · 1799 |1803 –1850 |1847
French, Tours 1799–1850 Paris|French, Nancy 1803–1847 Vanves