Thieves and the Donkey

The fable of the thieves and the donkey — two thieves who steal a donkey and then quarrel over ownership while the donkey escapes — has roots in Aesop and La Fontaine and was a standard subject for moralizing illustration. Daumier's version, dated around 1858 and held at the Musée d'Orsay, transforms the fable subject into a vigorous, gestural painting in which the comedy of human greed and stupidity is rendered with the same physical energy as his courtroom and theater subjects. The fable tradition was closely associated with French culture through La Fontaine's canonical seventeenth-century retellings, and Daumier had worked with animal subjects extensively in his satirical lithographs. His treatment here is more painterly than illustrative, using the fable as a pretext for depicting figures in comically exaggerated conflict. The Musée d'Orsay's collection of Daumier paintings allows this fable subject to be seen alongside his social-realist works, revealing the continuity between his satirical and observational modes.

The subject requires Daumier to depict human and animal figures in physical confrontation and movement. His handling is broadly gestural, using directional brushwork to suggest the energy of the dispute while the donkey's bulk provides a contrasting inert mass at the center of the scene.