Une confidence (deux avocats)
Drawing
ca.1865 (made)
ca.1865 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This drawing showing two lawyers walking together has another sketch on the recto: a lawyer pleading. Honoré Daumier (1808-79) was well versed in the workings of the law courts, having been condemned to a six month jail for having caricatured King Louis-Philippe in his engraving <i>Gargantua</i>. After his release, Daumier frequently visited the courts, where members of the legal profession provided him with a wealth of subjects for caricature.
Object details
Category | |
Object type | |
Title | Une confidence (deux avocats) (assigned by artist) |
Materials and techniques | Recto: Pen and black and red ink over traces of black chalk
Verso: graphite on paper |
Brief description | Drawing, 'Une confidence (deux avocats)' by Honoré Daumier, French school, 1860s |
Physical description | Recto: Two barristers walking together, the man on the left whispering in the other man’s ear; Verso: another study of a barrister stretching up his arms in front of him, behind him, a court audience. |
Dimensions |
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Style | |
Marks and inscriptions | Signed bottom left corner with initials: ‘h.D.’ (Recto: Lugt 488
Verso: Lugt 2503) |
Credit line | Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides |
Object history | Bequeathed by C.A. Ionides, 1900 |
Historical context | This drawing is characteristic of Daumier’s oeuvre and shows one of his favourite subjects: lawyers at court. The linear treatment of the figures is emblematical of his vigorous style, and reminiscent of his caricatures for the satirical journal Le Charivari. The drawing on the recto is typical of the many sketches datable from the 1860s showing lawyers passing, waving to each other and walking together (Musée des Beaux Arts de Reims; Williamstown, Sterling and Francine Clark Institute).This sketch is almost similar to the composition on the reverse of the watercolour Le boucher, marché Montmartre. The drawing on the verso can be on the other hand related to a series of sketches focusing in the foreground on a lawyer pleading (see for instance Le Defenseur, Washington, the Phillips Collection). Moreover the gesture of this figure with his arms stretched recall another sketch in the V&A collection entitled Une cause criminelle (L’information [CAI. 125], which is most likely a preparatory study for the watercolour of the same title and dated about 1865 (The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles). Daumier was a prolific draughtsman hence the difficulty to date most of his sketches. However these often turn out to be preparatory studies for compositions later engraved. It is not rare to find stylistic discrepancies in Daumier’s work of the same period: this would explain that although the drawing on the recto with many apparent pentimenti seems different than the one on the verso much more confident, they can be both dated of the same time. Daumier was most celebrated during his life time for his satirical and anti-monarchist illustrations rather than his paintings and drawings. This sheet is a good example of Daumier’s observation of the French society and its professional categories. He did a few series of sketches focusing on different categories such as musicians, comedians, art collectors, rustic life, saltimbanques… |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | This drawing showing two lawyers walking together has another sketch on the recto: a lawyer pleading. Honoré Daumier (1808-79) was well versed in the workings of the law courts, having been condemned to a six month jail for having caricatured King Louis-Philippe in his engraving <i>Gargantua</i>. After his release, Daumier frequently visited the courts, where members of the legal profession provided him with a wealth of subjects for caricature. |
Bibliographic references |
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Collection | |
Accession number | CAI.127 |
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Record created | April 1, 2008 |
Record URL |
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