Pygmalion. O triomphe des art! quelle fût ta surprise, Grand sculpteur, quand tu vis ton marbre s'animer Et, d'un air chaste et doux, lentement se baisser Pour te demander une prise. (Comte Siméon.)

Trustman, Benjamin A., Trustman, Julia M. · 1842

A sculptor is amazed because his statue has come to life only to be surprised that his creation wants his snuff (tobacco). Daumier's caricature is reverting to an original oil painting by Anne Louis Girodet Trioson ( Pygamlion and Galatea) which was painted between 1813 and 1819 and can been seen at the Louvre. During this time, a quarrel between painters of the classic and romantic schools had fully flared up. Delacroix asked the "loaded" question: "Who is going to liberate us from the old Greeks?" Daumier succeeded to answer it his own way by showing historic personalities such as Hercules, Pygmalion or Agamemnon in absurd situations. It was his method to put history into perspective.