RUE TRANSNONAIN, LE 15 AVRIL 1834. (RUE TRANSNONAIN, ON APRIL 15, 1834.), pl. 24 from the journal l’Association Mensuelle Yale University Art Gallery

October 2, 1834

A sharp satirist, Honoré Daumier created numerous caricatures of social and political events during his lifetime, most of them comical. Here, however, the artist adopts a somber tone, depicting the massacre of an innocent family by government troops during the April 1834 insurrections. Militia opened fire on a building that they believed harbored rebels, in the process accidentally killing civilians in their homes. The nightshirt worn by the dead man at center underscores his vulnerability. Of this image, Charles Baudelaire wrote, “Only silence and death reign.”

Medium: Lithograph
Dimensions: sheet: 13 3/8 × 18 5/16 in. (33.9 × 46.5 cm)
Credit Line: Everett V. Meeks, B.A. 1901, Fund
Accession Number: 1982.120.4
Culture: French
Period: 19th century
Classification: Prints
Disclaimer: Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Object copyright

No Copyright - United States

Additional information

Object/Work type

caricatures, daily life, human figures (visual works), lithographs

Technical metadata and APIs

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