DAUMIER, H. - Et dire que voilà trois de mes prévenus que je n'ai pas pu faire condamner! .... je vais être perdu de réputation!..

Second state (of 2), with text, numbered 12. From "Les Gens de Justice", published " Chez Auber & Cie, Pl. de la Bourse,29". Text below image : - Just imagine, three of my defendants were acquitted.... I am about to lose my reputation....

Around the mid-1840s Daumier started publishing his famous caricatures depicting members of the legal profession, known as 'Les Gens de Justice', a scathing satire about judges, defendants, attorneys and corrupt, greedy lawyers in general. A number of extremely rare albums appeared on white paper, covering 39 different legal themes, of which 37 had previously been published in the Charivari. It is said that Daumier's own experience as an employee in a bailiff's office during his youth may have influenced his rather negative attitude towards the legal profession.

Known chiefly as a political and social satirist, Honoré DAUMIER (1808-1879) used the printmaking process of lithography, still relatively new at the time, to contribute cartoons and caricatures to French news weeklies.