HONORÉ DAUMIER | L'Avocat pathétique

Henry Marcel, Paris
Jos Hessel, Paris
Étienne Bignou, Paris
Private Collection, The Netherlands (acquired by 1924)
Private Collection, Switzerland (and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 22, 2004, lot 412)
Jan Krugier & Mary-Anne Poniatowsky, Geneva (acquired at the above sale and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 24, 2014, lot 388)
Acquired by William Louis-Dreyfus for the Louis-Dreyfus Family Collections at the above sale 

Martine Marotte & Charles Martine, Dessins de mâitres français, Honoré Daumier, vol. IV, Paris, 1924, no. 30, illustrated n.p.
Eduard Fuchs, Der Maler Daumier, Munich, 1930, n.n., illustrated p. 24
Karl Eric Maison, Honoré Daumier, Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Watercolours and Drawings, vol. II, London, 1967, no. 633, illustrated pl. 238

The work is in very good condition. Executed on cream laid paper. The sheet is hinged to a mount at two places along the upper edge of its verso. The sheet is lightly time stained overall. There is an extremely minor nick to the edge near the lower left corner. A couple minor spots of media staining.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Henry James compared Daumier’s work to the highest form of journalism: “Many people would tell us that journalism is the greatest invention of our Age… Journalism is criticism of the moment at the moment, and caricature is that criticism at once simplified and intensified by a plastic form” (Henry James, “Daumier Caricaturist," in Century Magazine, New York, 1890, n.p.). Daumier himself had experienced the sharp end of French justice, having been charged with sedition for his contemptuous portrayal of Louis-Philippe in 1832 for which he served six months in jail. There is an argument to be made that Daumier sought to draw attention to the vulnerable of society who suffered most from the flaws in the system, but his superb drawings and paintings of court-scenes and lawyers—the majority of which date from between 1850 and 1864—often have a lighter satirical touch. In the best of these it is the energy and the drama of proceedings which seem to be the principal subject. The present work is among the most vigorous, with a penumbra of lively pencil lines clearly visible around the subject’s outstretched arms. The frenzied outrage which Daumier was trying to capture is apparent in his animated sketches on this theme (see figs. 1 & 2). It is no coincidence that Daumier’s family lived across from the Palais de Justice in Paris. After his marriage in 1846, Daumier moved to Île Saint-Louis, but was still a short distance away from the courts, allowing him ample opportunity to observe daily proceedings in the corridors, stairways and halls of the Palais, sometimes penetrating the inner courts. From a draftsman's perspective, the black and white of the robes and wigs must have been irresistible to Daumier who was a skilled lithographer, and though he could not have anticipated how little the garb of court has changed over the subsequent centuries, the scenes he recorded with such insight and originality are remarkably timeless.