In The first bath a father wades in shallow water, supporting his baby under the arms. The figures have a solid, sculptural quality. His wife and older child look on from the bank. Sunlight warms masonry walls in the background, setting a somber mood to frame the passage of generations. In Rescue , a man and woman carry a naked child from the water.
Few details are clear.
Their bodies bend against the storm, and the child's naked flesh stands out against their dark garments in the wind. Hurried execution and uncompleted forms accentuate their anguish. In 1864 Daumier did a commission of three water colors of first, second and third class train passage for William Walters in Baltimore. It was a sociological study. The two large oils of Third class carriage followed.