ABSTRACT
Charles Philipon, editor of the French satirical magazines La Caricature and Le Charivari , commissioned the fi rst maquettes , or three-dimensional models of a fanciful or imaginary fi gure. La Caricature’s April 26, 1832 issue announced a “Celebrities” series of caricature portraits. Philipon stated that the political fi gures would fi rst be portrayed en maquette and the drawings would be based on the clay sculptures. Staff illustrator Honoré Daumier was assigned to produce the artwork. He created more than 35 unbaked clay caricature maquettes of contemporary politicians that have survived until the present day. Legend has it that Daumier created the maquettes from life by sneaking lumps of clay into
legislative sessions. More probably, he drew thumbnail sketches from life and then exaggerated the subject’s features in clay. By using maquettes as models, Daumier was able to instill a lifelike, three-dimensional quality into his highly unfl attering drawings. A lithograph that Daumier drew from one of his caricature busts appears in Figure 21-1 .
