

PROPERTY FROM THE WILLIAM LOUIS-DREYFUS FOUNDATION & FAMILY COLLECTIONS
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.