#chicard

This ball was an exceptional celebration, given before shrovetide, in honour of the birthday of a renowned illustrator of the festivities of yesteryear, an emulator of Gavarni, whose pencil had immortalized the “chicards” and the decent of the Courtille. Thus, it must have had a more joyful, nosier, and more bohemian atmosphere than the ordinary masked balls. Many artists were in attendance, followed by a whole accompaniment of models and art students who, around midnight, began to make a huge racket.

Some of the details about the artists were cut from the de mattos translation. I’m assuming this was because they are more specifically french cultural details and references that de mattos or the publisher thought wouldn’t have been obvious to anglophone readers without context. But they are really fun details, so I am going to give them the footnote they deserve (honestly this was a whole can of worms that I was not expecting so please come on this wild ride with me).

Paul Gavarni

Paul Gavarni was the pen name of Sulpice Guillaume Chevalier who was a really famous French illustrator/caricaturist. He did a lot of satire cartoons in the newspapers as well as book illustrations for authors such as Honoré de Balzac, one of Leroux’s favourite authors.

Honoré Daumier

Leroux doesn’t give us a name for the artist whose birthday is being celebrated at the masquerade, however, he does tell us that he uses a similar style to Gavarni and that he was known for drawing the “chicards” and the “descent of the Courtille,” which has led me to the artist Honoré Daumier, who was another very famous illustrator/caricaturist, and whose birthday falls on February 26, which is usually right before the time that lent begins (marked by Shrovetide).

In 1878, there was an exhibition of his work at the 1878 World Fair/Universal Exposition, which Victor Hugo was the president of. February 1878 was also Daumier’s 70th birthday and there were several articles in the news discussing his work and contributions to French art.

Source: Gallica/BNF

This article was published on Jan 5, 1878 in L’Illustration (coincidentally also the magazine where Leroux would later publish The Mystery of the Yellow Room). It talks about his connections to Gavarni, shares a quote from Balzac comparing him to Michelangelo, and details his love of boating and how he eventually lost his sight.

Can of Worms 1: What are the “chicards”?

In English the cultural equivalent of a Chicard is a harlequin or jester of sorts, kind of like Pierrot, a clown character used in commedia dell’arte. The Chicard was essentially a character that would be dressed up in a crazy random costume, characterized by a hat with a tall feather, and would perform dances at the Paris carnivals in the mid 19th century. The costume was created by Alexandre Lévêque and took on the nickname Chicard because of its fashion or “chic.”

A series of different characters emerged at this time, each with their own associations and characteristic costume. Chicard was considered to be a very wild and expressive merchant, while Pritchard was more serious. There was also Queen Pomare and Mogador, and the rival of Chicard, Balochard. People began to dress as these characters and throw large parties where they would dance and parade in wild, dramatic, and often crude ways under the anonymity of their costumes.

In 1842 both Gavarni and Daumier illustrated a book called Physiologie du chicard which documents the idiosyncrasies of this character along with caricatures.

Can of Worms 2: What is the decent of the Courtille?

The “Descente de la Courtille” is essentially a parade that took place in Paris in the mid 19th century that was similar to Mardi Gras or Brazilian Carnival. On Ash Wednesday, people would get drunk and dress up in costumes and then parade from the city gates of Paris down through the streets to Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville.