Charles Floquet, 'Vive la Pologne'

Carlo Pellegrini ('Ape') renders Charles Floquet, then Prime Minister of France, as a rotund, self-satisfied figure in a dark frock coat, head tilted back with a slightly pursed, superior air, pince-nez dangling from one hand. The caption — 'Vive la Pologne!' — is a pointed historical allusion: in 1861 Floquet had shouted the phrase ('Long live Poland!') at Tsar Alexander II during an imperial visit to Paris, a moment of republican audacity that made his reputation. Pellegrini exaggerates Floquet's broad girth and florid complexion against his white cravat.