This article addresses the singularity of The Colic and The Headache, two lithographs produced in 1832 by Honoré Daumier during his incarceration at Dr. Pinel’s mental hospital. It claims that they represent emblematic portraits of the artist and his publisher in an era of censorship and oppression.

This article examines the involvement of the French artist Léon Bonnat in the debate provoked by the controversial government reforms to art instruction at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1863. Unlike the scholarly literature that addresses the two camps in the controversy, this study explores an individual, academically trained painter’s participation, and his understanding and practice of artistic originality and freedom, two concepts central to the debate. In contrast to most of his peers, Bonnat supported the reforms and presented himself as a challenger to certain pedagogic practices, but he eventually reconciled to the academic system that he came to represent.

On the basis of recently discovered material in several archives, this article reconstructs the story of the bronze doors of the Morgan Library, from their acquisition in Florence in 1901, to their brief sojourn in London before arriving in New York to adorn the principle façade of McKim, Mead & White’s building. This case study also addresses the attribution of the work to Waldo Story, and analyzes his position within the particular complex social microcosm of the art market surrounding the transaction of J. Pierpont Morgan’s doors.