Georges Rouault

Ambroise Vollard, Paris (acquis de l'artiste)
Collection particulière, Europe 

Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Chefs d'œuvres des collections françaises, 1962, no. 79

Pierre Courthion, Georges Rouault, Paris, 1962, no. 347, reproduit p. 437
Bernard Dorival & Isabelle Rouault, Rouault, L'œuvre peint, Monte-Carlo, 1988, vol. II, no. 1810, reproduit p. 141

Please note that the correct medium for this work is oil on paper laid down on canvas, as was the artist's custom. It is more than likely that Rouault painted this composition on a pre-mounted sheet of paper, which upon closer inspection reveals a network of minor surface creases, inherent to the painting of the work and the artist's process. This work is not varnished. Examination under UV light reveals only a few tiny spots of retouching. This work is in good stable condition.
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Tout au long de sa carrière, Rouault a dépeint le monde des juges et des tribunaux, perpétuant une fameuse tradition artistique de dénonciation du système judiciaire, l'exemple le plus connu étant les caricatures d'Honoré Daumier à la fin du XIXe siècle. D'un point de vue plastique, Rouault éprouvait une véritable fascination pour les tenues des magistrats : Toque noire, robe rouge font une belle tache de couleur (déclare Rouault cité dans Rouault, l'œuvre peint de Bernard Dorival et Isabelle Rouault, Editions André Sauret, Monaco, 1988, p. 112). Sur un plan plus intellectuel, Rouault refusait l'idée qu'un seul homme puisse avoir le pouvoir d'en juger un autre. "Ne jugez pas, avait dit le Maître, qui avait ajouté, en une autre occasion : que celui qui est sans péché lui jette la première pierre. Que penser dès lors de ces hommes, des pécheurs commes tous les hommes, dont le métier est de juger, qui sont payés pour les sentences qu'ils  prononcent ? Rouault tremble pour eux : Si j'ai fait à des juges des figures si lamentables, c'est que je trahissais sans doute l'angoisse que j'éprouve à la vue d'un être humain qui doit juger ses semblables" (cité dans idem).

Si les premières représentations de juges et de tribunaux de Rouault étaient empreintes d'une perception démoniaque de ces hommes, cette violence a été progressivement remplacée par l'ironie, confinant parfois au ridicule. Cette œuvre, avec sa composition puissante et sa facture expressionniste, est l'une des dernières scènes de procès peintes par l'artiste. Les juges sont ici représentés tels des personnages joufflus, passifs et incultes ; commentaire peut être en apparence moins incisif mais tout aussi efficace sur la place du jugement dans la société.

Throughout his career, Rouault often treated the subject of judges and tribunals in his paintings, continuing a strong tradition of questioning the judicial system, an iconic example being the caricatures of Honoré Daumier at the end of the 19th century. Formally, Rouault was drawn to their costume: "The black cap and red robes create a nice spot of colour" (Rouault cited in Rouault, l'oeuvre peint by Bernard Dorival and Isabelle Rouault, Editions André Sauret, 1988, p. 113). On a more spiritual level, Rouault was bothered by the idea that one man could have the power to judge another. "Do not judge others, Jesus had said, adding on another occasion, let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone. What, in this light, is to be said of these men - as sinful as anyone else - whose profession it is to sit in judgement on their fellows, and who are paid for the sentences they mete out? If I have depicted these judges with such appalling faces, it is probably because I betray some of the anguish I felt before the spectacle of a human being sitting in judgement over his fellow-men" (cited in Rouault, l'oeuvre peint by Bernard Dorival and Isabelle Rouault, Editions André Sauret, 1988, p. 113).

If Rouault's early depictions of judges and tribunals were filled with more demonic depictions of these men, this violence was gradually replaced by a sense of irony, even of the ridiculous. This work, with its bold composition and expressionist brushstrokes, was one of the last court scenes painted by the artist, the judges are depicted as bulbous, passive, and uneducated figures, a less pointed but equally powerful commentary on the place of judgement in contemporary society.