Honore DAUMIER
French 1808-1879
Don Quixote reading
c. 1867
oil on wood panel
33.6 x 26.0 cm
Felton Bequest 1923
1276-3

In the 1850 Paris Salon, the public exhibition of new art officially sanctioned by the French Academy, Daumier first exhibited paintings which were inspired by Cervantes' novel Don Quixote. Over the following twenty years he produced around twenty paintings and numerous drawings based on the book.

Daumier is best known as a satirist, publishing thousands of lithographs in popular publications. He never sought to make his living as a painter, however he completed about three hundred paintings, most of which were in his studio when he died and were produced for his own interest rather than public exhibition or sale.

His painting technique is very sketchy and devoid of detail and the works were usually executed with very rapid brush strokes. The only exhibition of his paintings held during his lifetime took place in Paris in 1878 the year before he died.
This painting was among the works shown.