Alphonse Roehn
Collections record: P.45-2006
1799-1864
Etching with hand colouring, c. 1814-5
This print is from the same plate as the previous caricature, but a couple of alterations have been made in order to improve the joke. The Englishman’s wife has been transformed into an idealised beauty, and a subtitle has been added. The name given to the husband, ‘Buridan’ refers to the 14th century philosopher, Jean Buridan, who adapted an Aristotelian paradox to tell the tale of a donkey who starved to death because of its inability to choose between two identical piles of hay.
Given by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum, 2006 (P.45-2006)
