Daumier was a self-taught caricaturist, painter and sculptor. The busts depicting André Dupin the Elder and Victor-Gabriel Prunelle belong to a series of thirtysix portraying famous politicians active at the beginning of the so-called July Monarchy (1830–1848). They were originally sculpted in clay and painted. Daumier used them as models for his political cariacactures, which were published in the newspaper Caricature. The bronze casts were made after Daumier’s death.