Abstract:
This print shows Prudhomme in the uniform of a Captain of the National Guard bathing in the admiration of his family.
Monsieur Joseph Prudhomme was an artificial figure created by Henri Bonaventure Monnier. The figure appeared in publications like “Magasin des Visages” and “La Galerie des Grotesques”. Prudhomme represented the complacent, corpulent bourgeois of that period. Monnier described him as "pompous nothingness", entirely self-satisfied with himself and his insignificance.