Artwork
Un Défenseur... causant... dans son cabinet habituel
Un Défenseur... causant... dans son cabinet habituel is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Honoré Daumier. It dates from 1846 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. Un Défenseur.
About this work
Overview
Un Défenseur... causant... dans son cabinet habituel is a lithograph created by Honoré Daumier in 1846, portraying a lawyer engaged in conversation within a humble, everyday office environment.
Subject & Meaning
The print critiques the legal profession, focusing on the contrast between the lawyer's refined attire and the simpler, possibly impoverished, dress of his interlocutor, amid a plain office setting, hinting at societal commentary on justice and authority.
Technique & Style
Daumier employed quick, sketchy lines characteristic of lithography, imbuing the scene with a sense of realism and immediacy, reflective of his satirical approach to depicting contemporary figures.
History & Provenance
Produced in 1846 as part of Daumier's broader satirical commentary on 19th-century French society, the work is one of several targeting legal professionals and institutional figures, though specific provenance details are not provided.
Context
This lithograph sits within Daumier's oeuvre of social critiques, reflecting the mid-19th century's societal ills and the artist's penchant for highlighting the pretensions of authority figures through everyday, unromanticized settings.
Artist & collection
Artist
Honoré-Victorin Daumier was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the Second French Empire in 1870.
