L'Europe en ce Moment - Fantasie Politico-Geographique [Europe at This Moment - A Political-Geographic Fantasy]
- Title:
- L'Europe en ce Moment - Fantasie Politico-Geographique [Europe at This Moment - A Political-Geographic Fantasy]
- Alternate Title:
- L'Europe en ce Moment
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Lesage, Louis Ernest ["Sahib"]
- Other Creators:
- Yves & Barret
- Date:
- 1872
- Posted Date:
- 2015-08-25
- ID Number:
- 2082.01
- Collection Number:
- 8548
- File Name:
- PJM_2082_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1870 - 1899
- Subject:
- Satirical
Politics & Government
Pictorial - Measurement:
- 32 x 49 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- An elaborate satirical map reflecting the European situation following the Franco-Prussian war. France had suffered a crushing defeat: the loss of Alsace and much of Lorraine; the imposition of a massive indemnity; and the Pyrrhic victory of suppressing the Paris Commune. On the other hand, the victory knitted Prussia together with the southern states into a single, unified Germany based on Prussian military power. Germany replaced France as the dominant power in Europe; "Europe, it was said, has lost a mistress and has gained a master." Churchill 1931, 6. Befitting the new master, Bismarck dominates the center of the map, his sword dividing the continent. The strings of a German puppeteer reach out to control Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Hungary.
The map contains satirical comments on 14 countries; following are a few excerpts:
"France - Seeking a government for fifteen months from its defrocked old, none of whom will have it; all are too great, too small, too narrow or too worn. . . . Other nations pity her, looking anxiously at what France decides to find out what will become of them."
"Prussia is now Germany. Germany is Prussia. . . Germany is all the earth, in 365 days it revolves around the sun which is German, it has a moon that is German. . . . It eats rabbit stew with strawberries, its vinegars are esteemed and very advantageously replace the wine."
"England. - It also is the first nation in the world of cotton, friend of the strong, provided they are very strong, protector of the weak, provided they are very weak. . . . Separated from France by the Times and the Channel."
Although the map is unsigned, it is almost certainly the work of Louis Ernest Lesage, a well-known French caricaturist of the time who worked for many years for La Vie Parisienne.
Yves & Barret were one of the leading firms in the novel process of photoengraving. Carr 1882, 1060. Their work became known at the time as "the Yves and Barret process." (“Half-A-Hundred Pictures," New York Times, December 25, 1880, p. 3.) The collection includes three of the firm’s satirical maps from La Vie Parisienne: ID #2082, "L'Europe en ce Moment” (1872); ID #2145, “Ou Peut Mener La Question de l'Alabama?” (1872); and ID #2404, “Haute Bicherie - Basse Bichere” (1881).
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- La Vie Parisienne, July 6, 1872.
- Cite As:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography, #8548. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
- Repository:
- Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
- Archival Collection:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.