A Rival of Mr. Hume's. “- Oh Adelaide, what an experience.... I just made the shadow of Sesostris appear in front of me! - And what did Sesostris say to you? - He spoke to me in French.. and called me a mug!,” plate 384 from Actualités 1857

Honoré Daumier created this lithograph titled "A Rival of Mr. Hume's" as plate 384 from Actualités. It captures a moment of bourgeois domesticity tinged with the exoticism of Egyptology, a fashionable obsession in 19th-century France. The print depicts a gaunt man excitedly recounting his séance with Sesostris, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, to a woman named Adélaïde. Sesostris, he claims, spoke to him in French and called him a "mug." Daumier uses this satirical scene to poke fun at the pretensions of the middle class, particularly their fascination with spiritualism and the occult. The humor is underscored by the man’s disheveled appearance, which contrasts with the supposed grandeur of his experience. This work offers a glimpse into the cultural landscape of 19th-century France, where pseudo-science and historical fascination intersected with social satire. It reminds us how the allure of the past can be both a source of enlightenment and a vehicle for social commentary.