Illustration for Jérôme Paturot à la recherche d'une position sociale (Jérôme Patruot in Search of a Social Position), by Louis Reybaud, Paris, 1846

First published in 1842 without illustrations, Reybaud's social satire Jérôme Paturot à la recherche d'une position sociale recounts the attempts by the protagonist Paturot and his wife, Malvina, to improve their social standing by engaging in a succession of diverse jobs and artistic pursuits. Grandville, among the most prolific caricaturists and book illustrators of his day, was commissioned to produce illustrations for the 1846 edition. His drawn designs were reproduced in wood engravings for the book. In the chapter in which this illustration appears, Paturot has become a patron of the arts, advised by a painter named Oscar. The long-haired and bearded Oscar (in the book, flowing locks and full beard are signs of a true artist) convinces the couple to let him paint their portraits to be exhibited at the annual Salon. Once in front of his works "multiplying the gestures of a man transported by admiration. 'God! how like Rubens,' he said to himself - 'What flesh à la Veronese!'" Grandville was not convinced at first that he wanted to take on this commission because he found the novel dated when it originally appeared, but this many spirited designs only enhance the popularity of the enormously successful publication.