Louis Jules Trochu — 'The hope of France'

Plate 116, Men of the Day No. 10, drawn by James Tissot rather than the magazine's usual caricaturists, presents General Louis Jules Trochu — military governor of Paris and, days before publication, newly appointed president of the Government of National Defence — in full Second Empire uniform: double-breasted dark tunic with gold epaulettes, orange sash, knee boots, and a dropped cavalry sabre at his feet. Medals cluster at his chest; one hand rests on his hip with studied authority. The caption, 'The hope of France,' is pointed irony: Trochu's reputation for inaction during the Franco-Prussian War was already notorious. Tissot's caricature exaggerates the bald dome and clipped imperial beard, with the mockery residing entirely in the grandiose pose and that sardonic caption.