This bust of Pierre-Paul Royer-Collard (1763–1845), French editor, philosopher, statesman, and Member of the Academy by Honoré Daumier (1808-1879) was cast in 1929 in bronze with brown patina at the Barbedienne Foundry, it is numbered on the inside 21/25 and stamped on the back with Maurice Le Garrec’s seal. Daumier, the ‘Michelangelo of caricature’ modelled his bronzes from his satirical illustrations and terracotta busts of the French aristocracy and bourgeoisie: through his grotesque caricatural portraits, he derided the character of the archetypal professionals, such as doctors, professors, lawyers, and judges, to expose the flamboyance lifestyle of the rich and juxtapose it with the hardship of the masses. Daumier also sculpted busts of aristocrats, and members of parliament, such as this caricature of Royer-Collard, leader of the Doctrinaires group.

Daumier even ridiculed King Louis-Philippe I, for which he was sentenced to jail for six months. His sculptures are a testament to the ambiguous French restoration, and the failure of Louis-Philippe and his institutions to care for the new industrial classes.

Bronze versions of Pierre-Paul Royer-Collard are held in the following collections: The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; The Art Institute of Chicago; The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C; Musée des Beaux-Arts Lyon; Museo Soumaya, Mexico City; Musée des Beaux-Arts Marseille; Baltimore Museum of Art. The original clay is held at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.