Example

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a) Due to stylistic reduction and exaggeration, a portrait turns into a pear – the not-so-beloved King Louis Philipe of France (1830-1848) becomes a poire.

b) In the language of that time, poire meant “dummy”, while pear meant “fruit of the kings”.
The king was displayed in an ugly way. At the same time, the drawing was an assault against the monarchy itself.

 
This caricature became very popular, and the masses called Louis-Philipe “Roi Poire”. The illustrator Charles Philippon was imprisoned for six months, and in 1835, Louis Philipe decided to reintroduce censorship.

More than 150 years later, the symbol of a pear is still used by illustrators (see e.g. the example of the cover of Titanic from February of 1986).
 

Figure 4

            Charles Philippon
            La caricature
            Copy taken from: Schneider, F. (1988): The political caricature. Munich, p. 27/29
            1831.
 

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