Margot la Critique

Félix Bracquemond

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is one of Bracquemond’s earliest prints in which he depicted animals, in particular birds, to comment on human faults and contemporary society. Here Bracquemond rendered a veiled criticism of critics. The squawking magpie holds a plume and straddles a globe, which is clearly identified by the word "Paris" and the serpentine line reminiscent of the Seine River. Other recognizable words include "Opera," "French," "Museum," "Palace," "Academy," and "School," signifying the different domains of critics. The four stanzas encircling the bird satirize magpies and their chattiness and draw a clear parallel between critics and the behavior of the birds. Bracquemond underscored his commentary with a reference to Ovid’s description of magpies in "Metamorphoses", citing in the lower margin: "Raucaque garrulitas studium que immane loquendi," which translates to "their hoarse garrulity, their boundless passion for talk." Originally called "A Magpie," when the print was exhibited in 1863, Bracquemond amended the title to "Margot – The Critic" to stress the satirical and allegorical aspect of the print.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art