Avocat parlant à sa cliente (Lawyer Talking to His Client)
Medium
lithograph on laid paper
Dimensions
image: 30.2 × 42.8 cm (11 7/8 × 16 7/8 in.) sheet: 39 × 55.1 cm (15 3/8 × 21 11/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.3888
Art Historical Context
Jean-Louis Forain's *Avocat parlant à sa cliente (yer Talking to His Client, a 1915 lithograph on laid paper, captures a tense moment in a French courtroom, reflecting the artist's keen eye for human drama. Forain, a prominent French Impressionist and printmaker who trained under Edgar Degas and Jean-Léon Gérôme, often depicted scenes from Parisian life, including satirical portrayals of the justice system. This work, with its intimate scale (image 30.2 × 42.8 cm), draws viewers into the subtle power dynamics between lawyer and client, rendered in fluid lines characteristic of his mature style...
About the Artist
Jean-Louis Forain
Jean-Louis Forain was born Louis Henri Forain on October 23, 1852, in Reims, France, to a family of modest means; his father painted ornamental signs. The family relocated to Paris when he was eight, where young Forain developed a passion for drawing inspired by the sculptures of Reims Cathedral and the masters at the Louvre, which he began copying at age fourteen. He received drawing lessons from...