Ratapoil fesant de la propagande (Ratapoil Spreading Propaganda), from the series Les Actualités

In 1850 and 1851, Daumier published about thirty prints in the series Current Events featuring Ratapoil (literally rat skin or naked rat), a symbol of Napoleonism. Since his election to a nonrenewable four-year term as president in 1848, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte had been playing upon the popularity of his uncle, the great Napoléon I, among the rural populations and mounting support for his eventual coup d’état. Here, his chief propagandist and agent provocateur Ratapoil, who wears the same handlebar mustache associated with the soon-to-be emperor, plays upon peasants’ fears of insecurity and civil unrest under the Republic, appealing to their desire to protect their families, their homes, and their livelihoods.<
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> Ratapoil fesant de la propagande. — Si vous aimez votre femme, votre maison, votre champ, votre génisse et votre veau, signez, vous n’avez pas une minute à perdre ! …<
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> Ratapoil Spreading Propaganda. —If you love your wife, your house, your field, your heifer and your calf, sign. You haven't a moment to lose.