Hippolyte lardé par Cupidon. Depuis ce jour fatal, ce chasseur si terrible, Echangea son fusil contre un doux galoubet, Et quand il épanchait ainsi son cœur sensible Les lapins sans frayeur lui mordaient le mollet. Racine variante de Phèdre.

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

Cupid is aiming at Hippolytus with his arrow. During this time, 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.