Bastille Day on Rue Galande

Bastille Day is July 14 in France, and is similar to Independence Day, on July 4, in the United States. Both are days when festivities can outpace recollections of historical events. Here, neighborhood boys strip down and attempt to climb a greased pole in hopes of grabbing a sausage or a sweet suspended from a wagon wheel. The Rue Galande of the print’s title is one of the oldest streets on the Left Bank (south side) of the River Seine. Home to some of the city’s poorer residents, this area was an object of fascination for middle- and upper-class Parisians in the late 1800s. Those too timid to visit these neighborhoods in person could experience them through prints like this one.