Would you like to dine with us, mother big-beak?
Datenot dated
Artist
J. J. Grandville
(French illustrator and caricaturist, 1803–1847)
Illustration CitationFrom Metamorphoses du Jour, by J. J. Grandville (Paris: Garnier Freres, 1929)
MediumSingle-color lithograph
Dimensionssheet: 6 13/16 × 9 1/4 in. (17.3 × 23.5 cm)
Credit LineGift of Helen Farr Sloan, 1991
Object number1991-54
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPRINT
Label TextIllustration from Les Métamorphoses du Jour, a series of lithographs that caricaturist J. J. Grandville first published in France between 1829 and 1830. In a scene meant to comment on medicine of the period, Grandville presents a group of birds dressed as surgeons and cooks dissecting a human body and inviting a companion - who responds negatively - to dine with them. In a satirical reversal of roles, the animals will be dining on the human. Since the publication of the first set was so successful, a bilingual edition (French and English) appeared shortly thereafter.