DOI issue:
Vol. 6, No. 1 (February, 1916)
DOI article:Delteil, Loys: Honoré Daumier
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49980#0070
though he is not blinded by it. From August 5, his
crayon expresses indignation at the brutality of the
enemy: an Alsatian, whose weeping wife flings her arms
around his neck, looks with sullen anger at the German
troops marching past in the plain, and exclaims: “My
field ruined . . . my horse taken, my money stolen . . .
that is what they call patriotism ...” Daumier, impo-
tently watching his country overwhelmed by disaster,
shudders; he will not believe defeat possible; he clings
to the least hope his heart suggests, he extols the brave
defenders of the fatherland, who rush to defend their
sacred soil, despite the surrender of Sedan. La Repub-
lique nous appelle, sachons vaincre ou sachons mourir,
shout the volunteers and gardes-mobiles whom Daumier
has seen marching past, and who go to save honor at the
price of their lives. Courage alone is not enough, how-
ever. Daumier, instead of resigning himself to what is
evident, when confronted with the terrible reality of the
facts, revolts, and he accuses the Empire of being the
principal cause of the calamities that have befallen
France. It is then that he traces such bitter epic
conceptions, as L’Empire c’est la paix, Page d’histoire,
Epouvantee de Vheritage, Tu resteras dehors et clone d
la porte, Histoire d’un regne. Next he stigmatizes the
events themselves in pages of so soaring a conception
that they are as burningly real for the events of to-day
as they were for those of yesterday. Of this number we
may mention: Un cauchemar de M. Bismarck, in which
the Chancellor is reproached by Death with the number
of victims claimed by his inordinate ambition; the Reve
de la nouvelle Marguerite, who, as she sleeps, sees her
bridegroom, a Prussian officer, offer her jewels stolen
in a massacre; L’eclipse, sera-t-elle totaled when the
30
crayon expresses indignation at the brutality of the
enemy: an Alsatian, whose weeping wife flings her arms
around his neck, looks with sullen anger at the German
troops marching past in the plain, and exclaims: “My
field ruined . . . my horse taken, my money stolen . . .
that is what they call patriotism ...” Daumier, impo-
tently watching his country overwhelmed by disaster,
shudders; he will not believe defeat possible; he clings
to the least hope his heart suggests, he extols the brave
defenders of the fatherland, who rush to defend their
sacred soil, despite the surrender of Sedan. La Repub-
lique nous appelle, sachons vaincre ou sachons mourir,
shout the volunteers and gardes-mobiles whom Daumier
has seen marching past, and who go to save honor at the
price of their lives. Courage alone is not enough, how-
ever. Daumier, instead of resigning himself to what is
evident, when confronted with the terrible reality of the
facts, revolts, and he accuses the Empire of being the
principal cause of the calamities that have befallen
France. It is then that he traces such bitter epic
conceptions, as L’Empire c’est la paix, Page d’histoire,
Epouvantee de Vheritage, Tu resteras dehors et clone d
la porte, Histoire d’un regne. Next he stigmatizes the
events themselves in pages of so soaring a conception
that they are as burningly real for the events of to-day
as they were for those of yesterday. Of this number we
may mention: Un cauchemar de M. Bismarck, in which
the Chancellor is reproached by Death with the number
of victims claimed by his inordinate ambition; the Reve
de la nouvelle Marguerite, who, as she sleeps, sees her
bridegroom, a Prussian officer, offer her jewels stolen
in a massacre; L’eclipse, sera-t-elle totaled when the
30