L'Ennemi des Caricatures (The Enemy of Caricatures)

This French etching depicts a heavyset man wielding a sword against caricature itself, clutching an infant labeled as representing artistic freedom. The print satirizes censorship and attacks on political satire during the Restoration era. It belongs to the rich European tradition of print satire—descended from Hogarth and advanced by Gillray and Rowlandson—that found its most vigorous expression in 19th-century France through Daumier and others. Such works directly prefigure the modern comic strip: sequential narrative, exaggerated physiognomy, verbal-visual wit, and public commentary merged in affordable, mass-produced prints distributed to urban audiences. This particular image protests state suppression of caricature as political speech, a central conflict shaping both European and American comics history.