Daumier was renowned for satirical caricatures that punctured the pomposity of which groups?

• A. Royalists, Bonapartists, and politicians
• B. Clergy and monks
• C. Merchants and bankers
• D. Soldiers and generals

Answer: (A)

Daumier’s work centers on exposing the pretensions of those in authority. He used sharp caricature to reveal how politicians and the power-brokers of his time carried themselves with grand self-importance, a target that spanned rival factions in the political arena. By lampooning both royalists who clung to the old order and Bonapartists who championed Napoleon’s legacy, along with the politicians themselves, he highlighted the vanity and hypocrisy often accompanying power. This focus on the pomp and self-importance of people who controlled the state is what makes that description the most fitting. While other groups such as the clergy, merchants, or soldiers appear in his cartoons, they are not the primary focus of his best-known satirical critique.