Bidspirit auction | Baron James de Rothschild, depicted

Baron James de Rothschild, depicted as a wolf rummaging through a pile of money sacks - Poster No. 44 from the series “The Exhibition of Monsters” - The Dreyfus Affair - Le baron James - Baron James de Rothschild, depicted as a wolf rummaging through a pile of money sacks. Poster No. 44 from the series Musée des Horreurs [”The Exhibition of Monsters” / ”The Museum of Horrors”] by V. Lenepveu, Paris, September 1900. Hand-colored lithographic print, depicting Baron James de Rothschild as a wolf rummaging through a pile of money sacks, with the saying in his mouth (in corrupted spelling): “James - On peut m’appeler grand rentier, on peut m’appeler filou, ça m’est égal… j’ai jamais gommé le ‘ch’ qui trouble dans ma famille.” - “They can call me a great rentier, they can call me a swindler, it makes no difference to me… I have never erased the ‘ch’ that troubles in my family.” Baron Jacob Mayer de Rothschild, known as James de Rothschild - [1792-1868], a German banker, philanthropist, and founder of the Paris branch of the Rothschild family. He never received French citizenship and remained loyal to his original German citizenship, which prevented him from becoming regent of the Bank of France. The series ”The Exhibition of Monsters” was published during the Dreyfus Affair under a pseudonym, and comprised 51 large posters with anti-Dreyfus, antisemitic, and anti-Masonic illustrations. The series was published in France over a period of about a year, between October 1899 and December 1900. The original plan was to issue 200 posters in the series, but in practice only 51 were released. The first posters issued in the series sold in more than 300,000 copies. In October 1899, the French police arrested several peddlers who were selling posters from the series, on the orders of the prefect Louis Lépine. According to certain reports, Lépine ordered the cessation of their distribution following a request he received from Baron de Rothschild, who claimed that the damage caused by their dissemination was irreversible. In February 1900, the local police sent letters threatening to revoke the trade licenses of shop owners who would sell the posters, and from that point their distribution ceased. 50.5X65 cm. Very good condition.