Louis-Philippe Ier and François Guizot. Paris, [around 1848]. 2 plaster caricature portraits. Dimensions : H. 10 cm, L. 6 cm, P. 4,5 cm.
A very rare pair of caricature portraits created in the style of Dantan the Younger (1800–1869) at the end of the July Monarchy, during the revolution of 1848. The King of France, Louis-Philippe, is depicted in a chamber pot, and his chief minister, François Guizot, in a medicine mortar, ready to be crushed and ground into powder, with ‘GUIZOT’ engraved on one side and ‘PROPRE’ (clean) on the other. The king and his chief minister fled to England, Louis-Philippe disguised as a bourgeois, Guizot as a woman.
Underneath each plaster cast, a caption in Italian is written in ink, indicating that these caricatures were sold in Paris in 1848 (‘Caricatura che se vendeva a Parigi nel 1848’ under the one of Guizot).
A few small chips and minor accidents. The fragility of these plaster casts makes their state of preservation exceptional.
A rare account of revolutionary violence against the sovereign and his minister.
2 500 €