This collection consists of an original color lithograph entitled “Les Amazones de la Seine,” created and signed by Eugéne Morsabeau Rosambeau in 1870, and published or distributed by the firm Imprimerie Deplanche. The print depicts five female French soldiers at ease facing a group of a dozen Prussian soldiers during the Siege of Paris (1870-1871). According to the text on the lithograph, the women, who are members of the “Amazones de la Seine” faction, were able to make the Prussians “lever la crosse en l'air.” This is an expression that means the Prussians raised the butts of their rifles in the air to signify their surrender. These caricatures were sold in the street during the Siege, which the French ultimately succumbed to in 1871.

Source: Naranjo, Roberto. “The Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.” Ohio State University Department of History ehistory Database. https://ehistory.osu.edu/articles/siege-paris-during-franco-prussian-war