Paul Gavarni
“Goddamn! Madame, do you have a husband?”
c. 1855-1857
Physical Qualities
Pen and black ink and tansparent and opaque watercolor on paper, Sheet: 326 x 203 mm. (32.6 x 20.3 cm.)
Credit Line
The George A. Lucas Collection, purchased with funds from the State of Maryland, Laurence and Stella Bendann Fund, and contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations throughout the Baltimore community
Object Number
1996.48.18678
Paul Gavarni created this elegant, meticulous drawing around 1855, illustrating a song on marital infidelity by the playwright and novelist Alexandre Dumas fils. Highly critical of Napoleon III’s authoritarian regime, Gavarni, like, Dumas fils, used family and domestic themes as metaphors to expose larger social ills. Here, he unleashes his wit on a man in oriental costume leering at a woman outside the picture frame. His sword dangles suggestively between his legs as he bellows, “Goddamn! Madame, do you have a husband?”
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1996; The Maryland Institute College of Art,
through Henry Walters, Baltimore, by bequest 1909; from George A. Lucas, Paris
through Henry Walters, Baltimore, by bequest 1909; from George A. Lucas, Paris
The Maryland Institute, Baltimore, 'Exhibition of Paintings, Bronzes and Porcelains from the George A. Lucas Collection', 1911, p. 28, no. 119.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'French Drawings', May 1934.
The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Jan. 22- Mar. 6, 1949.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'From Ingres to Gauguin, French Nineteenth-Century Paintings Owned in Maryland', Nov.-Dec. 1951, p. 26, no. 65.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'The George A. Lucas Collection', Oct. 12-Nov. 21, 1965, p. 67, no. 333.
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL, "Au Théâtre," Jan. 6 - 26, 1969.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Watercolors and Drawings from the George A. Lucas Collection', July 24-Oct. 14, 1990.
Jay Fisher, BMA, "A Continuing Example: Prints and Drawings from the George A. Lucas Collection," 4 February - 9 April, 1995.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'French Drawings', May 1934.
The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Jan. 22- Mar. 6, 1949.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'From Ingres to Gauguin, French Nineteenth-Century Paintings Owned in Maryland', Nov.-Dec. 1951, p. 26, no. 65.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'The George A. Lucas Collection', Oct. 12-Nov. 21, 1965, p. 67, no. 333.
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL, "Au Théâtre," Jan. 6 - 26, 1969.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Watercolors and Drawings from the George A. Lucas Collection', July 24-Oct. 14, 1990.
Jay Fisher, BMA, "A Continuing Example: Prints and Drawings from the George A. Lucas Collection," 4 February - 9 April, 1995.
The Baltimore Museum of Art. PDS Newsletter. vol. XVII; no. 2 (Spring 2000); p. 6
Fisher, Jay McKean, et al. The Essence of Line: French drawings from Ingres to Degas. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005, p. 237-39, ill.
Inscribed: RECTO: LL, ink, 'Cordieu! Madame,/avez-vous un mari?'; VERSO: LC, graphite, '149'; TRC, graphite, '162'; TLC, graphite, '28'[?]
