DAUMIER, H. - Les Gens de Justice. - Comme je vous ai bien dit vertement votre fait !

Second state (of 2), with text. From "Les Gens de Justice". Text below image : - Comme je vous ai bien dit vertement votre fait !. . .
- Mais aussi, que je vous ai cruement riposté les choses les plus désagréables!. . .
- Nous avons été beaux!. . .
- Nous avons été magnifiques!... Ce n'est réellement qu'au Palais qu'on connaît la manière de se disputer et de s'en dire de toutes les couleurs sans se fâcher!. . .

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.