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A satirical pencil drawing of an anamorphic penguin dressed as a 19th century princess in full profile. Facing left, the penguin woman wears an extravagant gown, cape and hat.
A satirical pencil drawing of an anamorphic penguin dressed as a 19th century princess in full profile. Facing left, the penguin woman wears an extravagant gown, cape and hat.
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  • A satirical pencil drawing of an anamorphic penguin dressed as a 19th century princess in full profile. Facing left, the penguin woman wears an extravagant gown, cape and hat.
  • A satirical pencil drawing of an anamorphic penguin dressed as a 19th century princess in full profile. Facing left, the penguin woman wears an extravagant gown, cape and hat.

J. J. Grandville (Jean-Ignace-Isidore Gérard)

Study for “Ne la trouvez-vous pas jolie?” (“Don’t you find her pretty?”),

Maker

J. J. Grandville (Jean-Ignace-Isidore Gérard) (French, 1803-1847)

Title

Study for “Ne la trouvez-vous pas jolie?” (“Don’t you find her pretty?”),
study for *Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux *

Year

1842

Medium

  • graphite on wove paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • graphite on wove paper

Materials

graphite

Supports

  • paper

Dimensions

27.2 x 21.3 cm (10 11/16 x 8 3/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed in graphite in LR: "J. Granville"

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Membership Fund

Object Number

67.068

Type

  • Drawings and Watercolors

Exhibition History

Drawing Closer
Four Hundred Years of Drawing from the RISD Museum
Mar 12, 2022 – Sep 04, 2022

Label copy

Stepping forth in a feathered hat, ermine-trimmed capelet, and dainty shoes is a hybrid creature with the head of a penguin and the body of a human. She is a penguin princess, one of many fantastical characters J. J. Grandville invented for Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux (Public and Private Life of Animals), a satirical book that poked fun at public figures, social norms, and political events by depicting animals with human characteristics. The authors chose “the cover of animals” with the hope that their criticism “could become more general . . . more dignified, and less hurtful.”

Draw Me a Story
Illustration from the Permanent Collection
Apr 14, 2006 – Jul 23, 2006

Label copy

Grandville was an important illustrator of serial images recounting French middle-class social life and restrained satire. His drawings were reproduced as wood engravings; his fluid sketches were not drawn directly on the block but rather copied freehand by the carvers. This drawing is a study for a printed series with hand coloring, Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux (Scenes from the public and private lives of animals), which placed bizarre amalgamations of humans and animals in bourgeois social situations. By using such fantastic creatures, Grandville avoided overt critique of specific individuals, while commenting on the corruption and vice of contemporary social life.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

J. J. Grandville (Jean-Ignace-Isidore Gérard) (French, 1803-1847)
Study for “Ne la trouvez-vous pas jolie?” (“Don’t you find her pretty?”),; study for *Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux *, 1842
Graphite on wove paper
27.2 x 21.3 cm (10 11/16 x 8 3/8 inches)
Museum Membership Fund 67.068

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