Pas trop écourté, s'il vous plait c. 19th century

Here we see Honoré Daumier’s lithograph, "Pas trop écourté, s'il vous plaît," a work created during a period of intense political change in France. Daumier was renowned for his incisive social and political commentary, often using his art to critique the powerful. In this print, we see a figure representing the Constitution kneeling before Liberty, pleading, "Not too short, please." This work embodies the fraught relationship between the ideals of liberty and the practical constraints imposed by governance. The image speaks to the vulnerability of liberty, and how it's always subject to interpretation and manipulation. In his role as a visual commentator, Daumier reflects the anxieties of a society grappling with defining its core values in a rapidly changing world. The print is more than a political statement; it's a human appeal, capturing a yearning for a just society that balances freedom with order.