Honoré Daumier

Inspired by the courts in his Paris neighborhood, Daumier made numerous studies of lawyers at work. The artist’s experience as a pictorial satirist for the sophisticated audience of the journal Le Charivari informed many of these scenes. At a courtroom table, a lawyer leans back to offer an aside to his upright colleague, who listens with an impassive air. Daumier’s sly commentary on the legal profession reveals his skepticism about the justice system during the reign of Napoleon iii.