Daumier

Of all the visual wits of the nineteenth century, none was more sharp or observant than the painter, sculptor and engraver Honoré Daumier. He was jailed early in his career for caricaturing King Louis-Philippe as Gargantua, wolfing the taxes paid by the little people, but his time in the dank cells of St Pélagie prison seems only to have fueled his left-wing beliefs. He took the part of the common man against kings and princes, of the poor against the rich, of social justice against inequality. He mocked those whom he considered to be on the wrong side, and in doing so he gave enormous pleasure to their opponents. But his canvases, which today are worth millions, were ignored by the art-lovers of his time, and he was often faced with the direst poverty himself.