A courtroom scene
ca. 1880–1910
Medium
Type-metal engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 3/4 × 6 3/8 in. (12 × 16.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Jean Charlot, 1930
Accession Number
30.82.86
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the bustling print workshops of late 19th- and early 20th-century Mexico José Guadalupe Posada created vivid, satirical engravings that captured the era's social upheavals. *A Courtroom Scene*, produced around 1880–1910, exemplifies his mastery of type-metal engraving—a relief printing technique using durable metal plates to produce affordable broadsheets for mass distribution. This small yet dynamic print (4 3/4 × 6 3/8 in.) depicts a crowded courtroom filled with men, likely offering a sharp critique of the justice system during Porfirio Díaz's long presidency, when corruption and inequal...
About the Artist
José Guadalupe Posada · 1852–1913
José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) was a Mexican printmaker and engraver who revolutionized popular art and created some of the most iconic images in Mexican culture. Working primarily with publisher Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, he produced over 20,000 images during his career—inexpensive broadsheets sold for a penny on colored paper that made his art accessible to even the poorest workers. He transform...