MAISON MARTINET. - Comedies de Moliere . . .Le Malade Imaginaire.

A lovely colored lithograph of "The Imaginary Disease" or "The Hypochondriac", by Edouard Lievre, published in Paris mid way through the nineteenth century. This delightful print (number 7) depicts a wife, or perhaps a maid, plumping up, and rearranging a pillow to support and provide extra comfort for a 'sick' or poorly patient, seen sitting in a chair with a bowl of soup on a tray across their lap.

On the table beside the patient we see a bell for summoning assistance, a feathered quill, a glass jar labeled 'Potions', and the 'dreaded' syringe for a possible enema.

Jean Baptiste Poquelin (stage name: Moliere) was a famous French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and universal literature.
The comedies of Molière perfectly combine comic power and moral and social criticism.