Daumier, one of the nineteenth century's great caricaturists, was prolific as a pointed political satirist until complete censorship of such subjects was imposed by the government in 1835. In this lithograph, he ridiculed the conservative members of the Chamber of Deputies—all recognizable to his contemporaries—for their arrogance and corruption, depicting them as bloated and dozing. Daumier's publisher Charles Philipon covered the costs of the censor's fines against his politically charged periodicals by issuing such prints as part of the subscription series L'Association Mensuelle.

Open full-size image