Le Grelot / journal illustré politique et satirique, №21, dimanche, 3 septembre 1871.

Artist: Caporal (signed in the lower-left corner)

Engraver/Printer: J. Lefman (signed LEFMAN SC in the lower-right corner)

Title: LE COUP D’ÉTAT DU 4 SEPTEMBRE  1871.

The Coup d’Etat of September 4th 1871.

The artist equalled the 4th of September revolution when Napoleon III was ousted and the Second Empire collapsed, to a coup d’Etat. Although the number is marked September 3, it is dedicated to the events of September 4th. This was a usual French newspaper practice to postdate their issues. That’s why they almost always operated with categories such as “today”, “yesterday”, and “tomorrow” instead of definitive calendar dates. “Le Grelot” means “The Sleigh Bell”.

Personages:

Ratapoil – fictional personage invented by Honoré Daumier (French, 1808 – 1879), a Napoleon III caricaturized figure. Ratapoil is addressing the audience holding up Napoléon Bonaparte’s tricorn cocked hat.

Pietri – Joseph Marie Piétri [Joachim Piétri] (French, 1820 – 1902), Prefect of Police of Paris, is sitting in the first row, taking notes.

Rouher – Eugène Rouher (French, 1814 – 1884), president of the Senat.

Canrobert – François Marcellin Certain de Canrobert (French, 1809 – 1895), French Marshal, captured by the Prussian army in Metz with Marshal Bazaine during the surrender of Metz on October 28, 1870.

Ollivier – Olivier Émile Ollivier (French, 1825 – 1913), head of the government.

Hiding behind the theater decoration are: Napoleon III (Lui!), his wife Eugénie (Elle!), their son Prince Imperial (Le P’tit!), and Pierre Bonaparte (L’Autre).

Sitting in the theatre box facing the scene: Adolphe Thiers (French, 1797 – 1877), Jules Favre (French, 1809 – 1880), Louis-Jules Trochu [Le General Trochu] (French, 1815 – 1896), and the other members of the “Government of National Defence”.

On the gallery: youngsters and two men in sans-culottes hats.

An unidentified person on a ladder holding to an eagle figure is having a paintbrush and a bucket with ‘tender green’ paint.

Ref: Musée Carnavalet