Description
In this painting, Couture used two famous masked characters, Pierrot and Harlequin, to satirize and critique the public and the judicial system of the 19th century. The pathetic Pierrot represents a lower-class fool on trial for stealing food from a restaurant. The stolen items are depicted lying on the courtroom floor as an indictment of his guilt. His accusers sit on the left, while Harlequin, his lawyer, argues theatrically for the defense. The artist's contempt for the legal profession and the court system is plain in the figures of the sleeping judges. A mid-19th-century observer may have sympathized with Pierrot, who for his own survival cunningly subverts authority in order to satisfy his needs.
Provenance
Jay Gould. J. Rougeron, New York, NY; Arthur Tooth & Sons, London, United Kingdom; A. Saloman; (Christie's, London, December 3, 1976, lot 105) (December 3, 1976); Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin, Cleveland, OH
bequeathed to the Cleveland Museum of Art (by 1977–1980); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1980–)
Accession Number
1980.250
Medium
oil on wood panel
Dimensions
Framed: 45.8 x 52.1 x 5.2 cm (18 1/16 x 20 1/2 x 2 1/16 in.); Unframed: 32.2 x 39.2 cm (12 11/16 x 15 7/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Bequest of Noah L. Butkin
Tags
Painting Impressionist & Modern (1851–1900) Oil Painting Panel Painting French
Background & Context
Background Story
Thomas Couture (1815-1879) was a French painter known for his history paintings and teaching, whose students included Edouard Manet and other important painters of the next generation. Pierrot in Criminal Court from c. 1864-70 depicts the commedia dell'arte character Pierrot in a criminal court in the dramatic, anecdotal manner that distinguishes Couture's best genre subjects from his more formal history paintings. The c. 1864-70 date places this in Couture's later period, when he was producing genre subjects that combined the dramatic manner of his history paintings with the anecdotal subject matter of genre painting.
Cultural Impact
Pierrot in Criminal Court is important in Couture's later oeuvre because it demonstrates the combination of dramatic painting with anecdotal genre subject that he developed in his later career. Couture's influence on the next generation of painters—including Manet, who studied with him—was more important than his own paintings, but Pierrot in Criminal Court shows that Couture could combine the dramatic manner of history painting with the anecdotal subjects of genre painting in a distinctive way.
Why It Matters
Pierrot in Criminal Court is Couture's dramatic genre: the commedia dell'arte character in a criminal court rendered in the dramatic manner that the teacher of Manet applied to anecdotal subject matter. The c. 1864-70 painting shows the combination of history painting manner with genre painting subject that distinguishes Couture's later work.
