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Honoré Daumier
……..I really start getting tired of my wife’s cousin!!! The Cousin. The cousin is a common small animal, slender, elegant, light, which slips into the interior of dwellings in order to bring trouble and restlessness to the inhabitants. He is the horror of husbands and causes them tenacious insomnia. His song on the other hand seems to be very melodious to bored young ladies. If one can believe our most serious natural scientists and especially the contemporary comedians, there are only very few marriages which are not affected by at least one little cousin. They are very difficult to get rid of. When thrown out by the door, they come back through the window. (Scribe – Natural History) (……..décidément, je commence à avoir pardessus la tête du cousin de ma femme !!! Le Cousin. Le cousin est communément un petit animal, mince, élégant, léger, qui se glisse dans l’intérieur des habitations pour y porter le trouble et l’inquiétude. Il est la terreur des maris, et leur cause souvent des cuisantes insomnies. Son bourdonnement, en revanche, paraît fort mélodieux aux jeunes femmes qui s’ennuient. S’il faut en croire nos plus profonds naturalistes et notamment tous les vaudevillistes contemporains, il est bien peu de ménages qui ne soient affligés d’aumoins un petit cousin. On s’en délivre diffilement. Quand on les chasse par la porte, ils rentrent par la fenêtre. (Scribe Histoire naturelle).) (1837)
hand-coloured lithograph and gum arabic on buff paper
21.2 × 19.0 cm (image) 22.7 × 20.4 cm (comp.) 29.4 × 20.4 cm (comp. and text) 32.6 × 24.3 cm irreg. (sheet)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1946
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

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