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Triumphant Advocate

Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879)
about 1845–50

Medium/Technique Oil on canvas
Dimensions 60.3 x 45.1 cm (23 3/4 x 17 3/4 in.)
Credit Line Bequest of John T. Spaulding
Accession Number48.531
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Daumier was most famous as a printmaker, publishing thousands of political and social caricatures in the leading satirical journals of Paris. He never exhibited his paintings, and it was not until after his death that these works, with their bold and very personal style, came to be widely appreciated. In both paintings and lithographs, Daumier had the ability to condense a wealth of meaning into a few simple and evocative forms. Here, the dark bulk of the lawyer is silhouetted against a blurred and empty flight of stairs, leaving the viewer to imagine the source of his evident self-satisfaction and the hectic activity of the court beyond.

InscriptionsLower right: h D
Provenance1921, David Croal Thomson (b. 1855 - d. 1930), Glasgow; 1921, sold by Thomson to William Burrell (b. 1861 - d. 1958), Glasgow [see note 1]; 1924, still with Burrell [see note 2]. 1925, Howard Young Galleries, New York (stock no. 2414); 1925, sold by Howard Young Galleries to John Taylor Spaulding (b. 1870 - d. 1948), Boston; 1948, bequest of John Taylor Spaulding to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 3, 1948)

NOTES:
[1] According to correspondence from William Wells, Keeper, Burrell Collection (June 3, 1975). Thomson was a dealer. [2] He lent this painting to the "Loan Exhibition of the Burrell Collection" (National Gallery, Millbank, 1924), cat. no. 44.