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Les Deux Compères

Print
1870-1871 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Vallée (printer)
De Guine, Louis Alexandre Gosset (caricaturist)
Place of origin
Paris (printed)

Satirical print in which emperor Wilhelm I and Napoleon III are shown at a door with the words 'Porte de Paris' written above. The pair are depicted as the scoundrels, Robert-Macaire and Bertrand. Napoleon III, wearing green trousers, laurels on his head and with a syringe at his side, kisses the hand of Wilhelm. The latter is dressed in a blue coat and has a pair of pistols attached to his belt. Print from a set of caricatures, broadsheets and illustrations in ten volumes. Each volume is half-bound in red leather, gold tooled and stamped with imperial emblems, title etc.

Object details

Categories
Prints
Caricatures & Cartoons
Object type
Print
TitleLes Deux Compères (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Hand-coloured lithograph on paper
Paper
Lithography
Hand-Colouring
Brief description
'Les Deux Compères'. Satirical illustration by André Gill in which emperor Wilhelm I and Napoleon III are depicted as the scoundrels Robert-Macaire and Bertrand. Hand-coloured lithograph, France, 1870-1871.
Physical description
Satirical print in which emperor Wilhelm I and Napoleon III are shown at a door with the words 'Porte de Paris' written above. The pair are depicted as the scoundrels, Robert-Macaire and Bertrand. Napoleon III, wearing green trousers, laurels on his head and with a syringe at his side, kisses the hand of Wilhelm. The latter is dressed in a blue coat and has a pair of pistols attached to his belt. Print from a set of caricatures, broadsheets and illustrations in ten volumes. Each volume is half-bound in red leather, gold tooled and stamped with imperial emblems, title etc.
Dimensions
  • Height: 40.6cm
  • Width: 26.7cm
Dimensions from: Lambert, Susan. The Franco-Prussian War and The Commune in Caricature 1870-71. catalogue of a collection of prints in the possession of the Department of Prints and Drawings of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1971.
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'Les Deux Compères, par Gill. 840. - Paris - Imprimerie Vallée, 16, rue du Croissant. Bertrand. Robert-Macaire. En vente chez Strauss, 7, rue du Croissant, & chez Madre, 20, rue du Croissant.' (Lettered)
  • 'And. Gill' (Signed)
Gallery label
(27/05/1971-10/10/1971)
André Gill (pseudonym of Louis Alexandre Gosset de Guine) (1840-85)

King William and Napoleon III are shown hand in glove outside Paris as the scoundrels, Robert-Macaire and Bertrand. These accomplices made their debut in the melodrama L' Auberge des Adrets by Chevrillon, Lacoste and Chaponnier in 1823. In 1832 the play was rewritten as a comedy entitled Robert Macaire and the thieves were transformed into swindlers. They were further immortalized by Daumier in a series of 100 caricatures published between 1836 and 1838.

Process engraving by Lefman.
Coloured by hand. E.836-1962
Object history
Provenance unknown.
This caricature was published as a supplement to the newspaper L' Eclipse.
Subjects depicted
Pistols
Eagle
Clubs (Weapons)
Laurel Wreath
Syringe
Emperors
Bonaparte, Napoleon III
Wilhelm I (Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia)
Bibliographic references
  • Lambert, Susan, The Franco-Prussian War and The Commune in Caricature 1870-71: catalogue of a collection of prints in the possession of the Department of Prints and Drawings of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, V&A, 1971
  • Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1962. London: HMSO, 1964.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.836-1962

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Record createdFebruary 3, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O186046/les-deux-compères-print-de-guine-louis/
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