Drawing, 'Une Cause Criminelle' by Honoré Daumier, French School, 19th century

A man leaning over a parapet is addressing his lawyer sitting down in front of him. He is stretching his hand out toward the lawyer who turns his back to look at him.

C.A. Ionides, by whom bequeathed to the museum in 1900.

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.

Une cause criminelle (L’information) is a preparatory study for the watercolour of the same title and dated about 1865 (The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles) where the intellectual hierarchy between the lawyer and his client is restored.
The drawing can also be related to a series of sketches focusing on a lawyer pleading in the foreground (see for instance Le Defenseur, Washington, the Phillips Collection or Avant l’audience, New York, The Honorable Samuel J. and Mrs. Ethel LeFrak and Family). Moreover the gesture of this figure with his arms stretched recalls another sketch in the V&A collection entitled Avocat plaidant (see CAI. 127, verso). In both sketches, Daumier emphasizes the dramatic gesture of the characters to connect the court activity to theatrical productions.

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.

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…

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 Gargantua. After his release, Daumier frequently visited the courts, where members of the legal profession provided him with a wealth of subjects for caricature. The present drawing shows a lawyer pleading the case of his client standing just behind him.

CAI.125