Frédérick Lemaître
1867
Meet Frédérick Lemaître, the 19th-century French actor who was basically the rock star of the Parisian stage, famous for playing rogues and villains. In this 1867 caricature by Étienne Carjat, Lemaître’s head is comically enlarged to highlight his expressive, dramatic features, while his body is shrunk into a tiny, dapper figure in a blue suit clutching a cane and handkerchief. Carjat, a photographer and journalist who hung out with literary giants like Rimbaud, captured the actor's intense, slightly weary gaze perfectly amidst some sketchy green bushes. Lemaître was so iconic that he actually inspired the character of Vautrin in Balzac’s novels, proving that a good caricature can capture a personality better than a photograph!
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