PATRIOTY. Republican Sketches. No. 1. The German Pack on the - Lot 254

PATRIOTY. Republican Sketches. No. 1. The German Pack on the Hunt. Paris, Deforet and César, booksellers and publishers, 64 Rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs; Talons Printing House, 19 Marché Saint-Honoré, [1871]. Large black lithograph, signed “Patrioty” in the stone in the lower left corner. First plate in the “Republican Sketches” series, bearing the number 1 at the top. A spectacular allegorical caricature inspired by the French defeat of 1870. France, depicted as a draped young woman wearing a Phrygian cap and tied to a post bearing her name, finds herself at the mercy of a veritable political menagerie. Surrounding her is a “pack” of grotesque, crowned animals, explicitly identified as the various German states: Württemberg, Mecklenburg, Bavaria, Saxony, Baden, Hesse, Nassau, etc. On the right, a figure with an oversized head watches over this hunt, a flask in hand. The image thus transposes France’s defeat and territorial dismemberment into the context of a hunt: defeated France becomes the prey offered to the German powers united under Prussian authority. A beautiful and biting piece of Republican propaganda, particularly representative of the revanchist imagery that emerged immediately after the 1870–1871 war. Black-and-white print. A few foxing spots and stains, creases, and minor marginal imperfections; overall well preserved.

Estimate:£42.36

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