“A thorough cleanup” ! Edmond Lavrate (1829-1888) was a prominent mid 19th century caricaturist of French everyday life whose cartoons appeared weekly in Le Monde Plaisant, a popular comic and satirical journal. At one time his illustrations were censured and banned from sale due to their vulgar and devilish nature; anti-clerical themes were a specialty of his. His caricatures also came under official scrutiny for their scathing satire of the French military and Garde Nationale due to the turmoil surrounding the establishment of, and myriad political challenges to, the Third Republic in the wake of France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the Siege of Paris (1870-1871), and the collapse of the Second Empire. With many factions, to declare oneself a republican begged the question, What kind of republican? To which Lavrate apparently answered, The funny kind.