Karikatuur van een dame op een weegschaal 1843

Honoré Daumier created this lithograph, now at the Rijksmuseum, to satirize Parisian society, using the motif of a weighing scale as a tool for social critique. In this print, a stout woman is placed on a scale, observed by onlookers, blending personal vanity with public spectacle. The weighing scale itself is an ancient symbol of justice and balance, seen in classical allegories where divine figures hold scales to measure souls. Daumier cleverly inverts this, using it instead to weigh social worth, mocking the superficial concerns of his contemporaries. The act of weighing, historically linked to judgment, here reflects how society measures individuals based on appearance. This connects to earlier depictions of the "weighing of souls," transforming spiritual reckoning into social assessment. The image is a powerful reminder of how symbols evolve, carrying echoes of their past while adapting to new cultural landscapes, stirring subconscious anxieties about social acceptance and self-worth.