As you may remember, Grandville was a 19th century French artist who published a lot of prints poking fun a the Parisian middle class by putting animal heads on the figures of human bodies. This allowed him to satirize without being close enough to be accused of libel. He published a book full of these called Les Metamorphoses du Jour The prints are black-and-white lithographs which were hand-colored after printing in the first edition; it was so popular that there were several subsequent editions which were illustrated with woodcut reproductions by secondary artists.
As I was scanning through the prints included in Les Metamorphoses du Jour, this one jumped out at me and made me laugh. I don’t know the terms in French, but in English I think this might qualify as a pun on “fishwives” (wives or mothers of fishermen, stereotypically loud and given to strong language). Enjoy!
Les metamorphoses du jour (Lithograph, hand colored after printing, 1829)
