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

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.”

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.