Les Envies de Madame
Honore Daumier (1808-1879), Les Envies de Madame, lithograph, c. 1839-42, plate 32 from the series Moeurs Conjugales. Reference: Daumier Register 655, second state (of 3). In good condition, sur blanc, 12 x 8 1/2, the sheet 13 1/2 x 10 1/2.
A fine impression with the blacks particularly strong and fresh.
This is a sur blanc impression, produced especially for collectors in a limited edition; the paper is a cream wove, and there is no newprint verso as found in the journal impressions.
This print was first published in the journal La Caricature, then later it was selected for publication in La Charivari.
Here is a translation, taken from the Daumier Register:
Original Text:
LES ENVIES DE MADAME.
– Oscar je veux manger du melon ! va m’acheter du melon !
– Mais il est une heure du matin, et nous sommes en Janvier !
– N’importe, Oscar, je veux du melon à tout prix, ou je vais te mordre.
Translation:
THE WHIMS OF A WIFE.
– Oscar, I want to eat a melon! Go and buy a melon for me!
– But it is one o’clock in the morning and we are in January!
– Doesn’t matter, I want a melon at any cost, or else I bite you!
$250