France preparing to get her candidates to pass muster under the measure of standards, plate 73 from Actualités (1869): Artwork and History

France preparing to get her candidates to pass muster under the measure of standards, plate 73 from Actualités (1869) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Honoré Victorin Daumier French, 1808-1879.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Printed in Daumier’s long-running sociopolitical series, Actualités, this lithograph questions whether any of the diminutive politicians seen here can possibly measure up to the high standards of the French government. The candidates glance nervously toward the measuring rod as a calm, classicizing personification of France administers the test. Daumier’s assessment? Total failure. Candidates must be at least this tall to go on this political ride.

Object facts

• Title: France preparing to get her candidates to pass muster under the measure of standards, plate 73 from Actualités
• Date: 1869
• Artist attribution: Honoré Victorin Daumier French, 1808-1879
• Place of origin: France
• Medium: Lithograph in black on ivory wove paper
• Dimensions: Image: 27 × 21 cm (10 11/16 × 8 5/16 in.); Sheet: 36.8 × 27.7 cm (14 1/2 × 10 15/16 in.)
• Type: Print
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1960.828

Collection credit

John H. Wrenn Memorial Collection

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.