...dussent-ils me maudire. Ces barbares parens... 1844

This lithograph, "...dussent-ils me maudire. Ces barbares parens...", is from Honoré Daumier's satirical series "Les Bas-Bleus" (1844). It depicts a young woman, likely a poet, reciting a poem to an audience of women in a bourgeois setting. Daumier was a renowned social commentator and a master of caricature. His work often exposed the hypocrisy of the Parisian elite, and "Les Bas-Bleus" is a humorous critique of the female intellectual salons popular in 19th-century France. The exaggerated features and postures of the figures are typical of Daumier's style, which contributed to his popularity as an illustrator and printmaker.