Figures and vignettes: a man is asleep with a dog by his side, a child is being scolded by a woman, a soldier stands with a gun, etc.. Coloured lithograph by the Becquet brothers after V. Adam, 1852.

"La foire aux idées" was a phrase used in 1848-1849 to describe the abundance of utopian and revolutionary ideas proposed in printed media, theatre etc. during the political and social changes in France in those years. Here it seems to mean a collection of ideas for artistic compositions that Adam and his viewers couold reuse in other artistic works