“- Come, come, Mr. Pomard... keep your spirits up... only two more leagues and we can rest... - What a piece of luck, we didn't bag anything... I wouldn't even have the strength to carry a partridge,” plate 21 from Émotions De Chasse 1858

Honoré Daumier crafted this lithograph, a scene from his series Émotions De Chasse, capturing the weary return of hunters. Note the slumped posture of the man, his face hidden, a universal gesture of exhaustion and defeat. This motif echoes throughout art history. The defeated warrior, the burdened traveler—archetypes found in ancient Roman reliefs and medieval tapestries alike. Think of Atlas, eternally carrying the world on his shoulders, a symbol of unending struggle. Daumier's hunter, though, is stripped of heroic grandeur. His weariness is mundane, almost comical. Yet, beneath the humor lies a profound empathy. The hunt, once a noble pursuit, is now a source of utter depletion. We see how symbols evolve, their meanings twisted by circumstance. The hunter's burden is not glory, but the sheer weight of a pointless endeavor. It reminds us that every symbol carries its own counter-symbol. What was once elevated and noble can be debased and ridiculed.