Le Petit, Alfred (painter, lithographer, journalist, and chansonnier; Aumale 1841 – Levallois-Perret 1909). M. (Adolphe) Thiers, statesman and historical writer, first lawyer, then journalist however, and finally as Prime Minister (Feb. 17th, thus just a few days after the caricature here as pear, “La Poire”) peace negotiator with Bismarck and president of the Republic the same year, “one of the most important statesmen of France in the 19th century and anyhow the most popular. His doctrine was that of the constitutional system, in which the enlightened, wealthy middle classes saw the best protection of its intellectual and material goods” (Meyer). On a wall board the pear heads of the Duc d’Aumale, Prince de Joinville, Comte de Paris, Duc de Nemours, Duc de Chartres. Colored lithograph. Inscribed: Alfred Le Petit PARIS 14 Février. 1871., otherwise as above and below resp. 24.5 x 13.3 cm.
Osterwalder, Dictionnaire des Illustrateurs, p. 622. – Plate 17 of Le Petit’s Fleurs, Fruits & Légumes du Jour. – With the address of L’Éclipse and that of the printer Coulbœuf, both Paris. – With H. Briollet’s quatrain:
« Vingt-un départements l’ont élu député. / Il n’est pas de succés pareil dans notre histoire. / Thiers voudrait rester froid; mais radieux, enchanté, / Malgré lui-même, il fait sa poire. »
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