"Fortune" from The Complete Works of Béranger 1836

J. J. Grandville created this lithograph titled "Fortune" for an edition of the collected works of the popular French songwriter Béranger. It depicts Fortune as a classical figure, with a crowd of contemporary characters surrounding her. Made in 19th century France, this illustration is part of a larger tradition of social satire in printmaking, and the figure of Fortune is a well-known allegory in Western art. Here, Grandville gives that tradition a particularly modern inflection. Looking closely, we can see the artist's critique of the July Monarchy, with its emphasis on wealth and social climbing. The people in the crowd are representative of different social classes, all hoping for Fortune’s favor while those in power look down from above, seemingly manipulating the wheel of Fortune itself. To fully understand this print, we can consult a range of resources like periodicals of the time, books on caricature, and studies of French social history. These sources help to give context to an image that critiques the social structures of its time.