The Two Mules

"The Two Mules" is a fable about two mules that are carrying heavy loads. One of the mules complains about the heavy load and wishes to be free, while the other mule continues to carry its load without complaining. As they walk, they come across a river that they must cross. The mule that complained tries to cross the river first, but stumbles and falls, causing its load to be washed away by the current. The other mule, who had carried its load without complaint, crosses the river successfully and reaches the other side with its load intact. The moral of the story is that complaining does not help one's situation, and that perseverance and hard work are important virtues that lead to success.

Artist: Jean Ignace Isidore G?rard Grandville
Print Type: Wood Engraving
Date: C1841
Dimensions: 9 1/2 x 5 3/4"
Subject: Fantasy - Fables

Notes & Literature: Jean Ignace Isidore Gerard was a 19th century French illustrator and caricaturist who published under the pseudonym of Grandville. He has been called "the first star of French caricature's great age", and Grandville?s book illustrations described as featuring "elements of the symbolic, dreamlike, and incongruous, and they retain a sense of social commentary." "His perverse vision sought the monster in everyone and took delight in the strangest and most pernicious transfigurement of the human shape ever produced by the Romantic imagination. The anthropomorphic vegetables and zoomorphic figures that populated his cartoons anticipated and influenced the work of generations of cartoonists and illustrators from John Tenniel, to Gustave Dor?, to F?licien Rops, and Walt Disney. He has also been called a "proto-surrealist" and was greatly admired by Andr? Breton and others in the movement

Condition Report: Foxing. Verso blank.

Subject References: French Fables France Stock ID 170