JEUNESSE D'ALCIBIADE. Ce dandy rutilant, auréolé de fleurs, Si crânement galbé dans sa prestance riche, Voulant faire un beau jour la queue à ses blagueurs, Coupa celle de son caniche. Ballade grecque de Mr. Theoph.le Gautier.

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

Daumier again succeeds in his unique manner to transport classical history into present time by showing personalities of his time in a changed environment. In this case it is the dandy Alkibiades with monocle and poodle, presumably personifying George Sand, who usually dressed up in men's clothes and enjoyed to attract attention in public. During the 1840's, 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.