3-038-950 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Searching for arms at Versailles, [France], 1871. The Franco-Prussian War: 'a search for concealed arms in a private house, resolutely pursued by a party of Prussian Landwehr. The expostulations and protestations of the master of the house, the affected calmness but severe indignation of his wife, and the excited curiosity of his daughter, while their chests of drawers and presses are ransacked for contraband of war, seem very naturally portrayed. The little boy, too, sorrowfully bringing his toy-gun and offering to surrender it to the big German soldier, who looks down upon him with an expression of kindly fun, promising that he shall not be deprived of so valuable a weapon, is a pleasant figure'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.