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, French, 1852-1931
Title
A Court Scene
Date1901
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
55 x 74 cm
Signedlower left: J.L.Forain/1901
Credit LinePresented, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, 1950
Object numberNGI.4230
Exhibition HistoryFrench 19th and 20th Century Paintings from the National Gallery of Ireland: Corot to Picasso, Daimaru Museum, Tokyo, 5 September-17 September 1996; Daimaru Museum, Kyoto, 10 October-22 October 1996; Kawaguchiko Museum of Art, Yamanashi, 26 October-2 December 1996; Daimaru Museum, Umeda,Osaka, 22 January-9 February 1997; Aomori Municpal Gallery of Art, Aomori, 2 April-20 April 1997

Chester Beatty: The Paintings, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 7 September 2012 - 31 August 2013; The Hunt Museum, Limerick, 1 February - 30 March 2014
Label TextForain was an illustrator and a painter of contemporary life in Paris. Around 1900 he began depicting courtroom scenes. This picture shows a poor woman, probably an unmarried mother, changing her baby’s nappy in a courtroom. She seems oblivious to the lawyer behind her and the bench of gawking onlookers. Forain was highly critical of the French judicial system. Through scenes such as this, he showed empathy with the poor who suffered under harsh laws.