Doubtless he was affected by the influence of Henri Monnier, but Daumier really comes from no one.  He belongs to the fierce tribe of synics and men of exuberant powers, like Goya and Courbet.  A born anarch of art, he submitted to no yoke.  He would have said with Anacharsis Cloots:  “I belong to the party of indignation.”  He was a proud individualist.  That he had a tender side, a talent for friendship, may be noted in the affectionate intercourse he maintained for years with Corot, Millet, Rousseau, Dupre, Geoffroy, the sculptor Pascal, and others.  He was very impulsive and had a good heart with all his misanthropy, for he was an idealist reversed.  The etching of him by Loys Delteil is thus described by a sympathetic commentator:  “Daumier was very broad-shouldered, his head rather big, with slightly sunken eyes, which must, however, have had an extraordinary power of penetration.  Though the nose is a little heavy and inelegant, the projecting forehead, unusually massive like that of Victor Hugo or of Beethoven and barred with a determined furrow, reveals the great thinker, the man of lofty and noble aspirations.  The rather long hair, thrown backward, adds to the expression of the fine head; and finally the beard worn collarwise, according to the prevailing fashion, gives to Daumier’s face the distinctive mark of his period.”  This etched portrait may be seen in several states at the Lenox Library.

LALANNE’S ETCHINGS

How heavily personality counts in etching may be noted in the etched work of Maxime Lalanne which is at the Keppel Galleries.  This skilful artist, so deft with his needle, so ingenious in fancy, escapes great distinction by a hair’s breadth.  He is without that salt of individuality that is so attractive in Whistler.  Of him Hamerton wrote:  “No one ever etched so gracefully as Maxime Lalanne; ... he is essentially a true etcher...  There have been etchers of greater power, of more striking originality, but there has never been an etcher equal to him in a certain delicate elegance.”  This is very amiable, and Joseph Pennell is quite as favourable in his judgment.  “His ability,” wrote Mr. Pennell in Pen Drawing and Pen Draughtsmen, “to express a great building, a vast town, or a delicate little landscape has never been equalled, I think, by anybody but Whistler.”  Mr. Pennell modestly omits his own name; but the truth is that Pennell is as excellent if not more individual a draughtsman as Lalanne, and when it comes to vision, to invention, and to the manipulation of the metal he is the superior of the Frenchman.  The American etcher rates Lalanne’s lines above Titian’s.  Whistler and Titian would be big companions indeed for the clever-mannered and rather pedantic Lalanne.