Honoré Daumier, 
French 1808-1879- 
Apollo, playing the lyre; 
black chalk, pen, ink, and...

Honoré Daumier, 
French 1808-1879- 

Apollo, playing the lyre; 

black chalk, pen, ink, and watercolour heightened with white chalk on paper, signed with initials 'h.D.' (lower right), titled 'Apollon' (lower left), 28 x 18.5 cm. 

Provenance: 
Delphine Baron. 
Henri Rouart, Paris (sold: Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, Collection Henri Rouart, December 16-18, 1912, lot 55). 
Mr and Mrs Charles H. Tweed (acquired at the above sale). 
Harrison Tweed (gift of the above in December 1920). 
Chester Dale sale, New York (sold: Parke Bernet, New York, March 16, 1944, lot 11). 
Rosen Collection (acquired at the above sale). 
Gifted by Rosen in 1985. 
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, New York, 19 January 2005, lot 5 ($14,400). 
Private Collection, UK. 

Literature: 
Erich Klossowski, 'Honoré Daumier', Munich, 1923, no.105C. 
Eduard Fuchs, 'Der Maler Daumier', 1930, no.31, illustrated p.25. 
K. E. Maison, 'Honoré Daumier, Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Watercolours and Drawings', Greenwich, 1968, vol. 2, no. 454,  illustrated pl. 156. 
Daumier Register online, no.10454. 

Note: 
The Daumier Register notes how 'This charming watercolour was created together with some other mythological figures by Daumier as a so-called 'costume-design' for a "Féerie", which was shown from Sept. 7,1853 on at the Théâtre de la Porte St.-Martin in Paris. The play was directed by Daumier’s friend, the actor Fournier-Baron. One may assume that a larger number originally had existed'. 

Daumier was a renowned painter, draughtsman and caricaturist, known for his politically and socially critical cartoons, which were widely circulated in magazines such as 'Le Charivari' and 'La Caricature', and which are celebrated for their humorous though also often poignant and realistic portrayals of life in nineteenth-century France.