L'ANCIEN NÉGOCIANT - Je ne connais pas cette signature. - C'est la mienne. - C'est possible, connais pas. - Ancien fondateur de plusieurs banques.... des fameuses banques, retiré des affaires et engageant ma signature pour voler.... au secours de l'industrie!

A former merchant is asking for financial help so that he can resume his business.This series shows the readiness to engage in risky enterprises, the dream of easy money, and the greedy hope for immediate fulfilment of all wishes without responsible involvement. Daumier denudes the ruthless materialistic attitude of his time. At the same time the series shows the bizarre of these outcasts of civilization, expertly drawn and described by Daumier. We follow the debris of all classes and ranks: the man of letters to the clipper of dogs, the old business man and the political refugee, the Chief Administrator of the Empire and the used clothes merchant. It is this mixture of diversity, hope, despair and chance which makes this series so real and meaningful even by today's standards. While shocking and sometimes even repulsive these prints leave the attentive spectator with a feeling of sorrow and sadness but at the same time with awe about the ingenuity of fellowmen in distress, hoping to pull themselves out of their misery - sometimes the Munchhausian way.