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Honoré-Victorin Daumier

Sappho's Death. “Young ladies, you see where love leads us Under our feet so dainty and small The wretched chasm of an abyss Into which we eventually fall,” plate 49 from Histoire Ancienne

1843
Lithograph in black on ivory wove paper
23.9 × 18.7 cm (9.4 × 7.4 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Daumier’s 50-print series Stories from Antiquity appeared in Charivari over about a year. The Greek poet Sappho is said to have killed herself over a love affair, though specific details of her death are scant. Here Daumier added a helpful Cupid to nudge the unhinged but indecisive figure over the edge, while Charivari writers supplied verses significantly less artful than Sappho’s:Young ladies, you see where love leads us Under our feet so dainty and small The wretched chasm of an abyss Into which we eventually fall.

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