Les trois juges (The Three Judges) (circa 1936)

Georges Rouault

oil on millboard mounted on mahogany panel

Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

Les trois juges (The Three Judges) (circa 1936)

Classification:

Painting

Materials:

Oil, Millboard, Mahogany

Physical Object Description:

Inscribed 'G. Rouault' bottom right.

Dimensions:

78 x 64.5 cm

Accession Number:

N05146

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1940

Scheme:

Bequest

Ownership history:

Purchased from the artist by Ambroise Vollard (1865-1939), Paris, through Etienne Bignou (1891-1950), Paris; with Alex Reid and Lefevre, London, 1939; Montague Shearman (1885-1940), London, 1939; by whom bequeathed to the Contemporary Art Society; presented to Tate, 1940

Relationship:

Vollard Ambroise Vollard Bignou Étienne Bignou Alex. Reid & Lefevre, Ltd (The Lefevre Gallery), London Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives Montague Shearman

The French expressionist artist Rouault first became interested in the theme of lawyers and judges when in 1906/07 he began to visit the lawcourts. Later in 1924 he said: 'If I have made judges such lamentable figures, it is doubtless because I betrayed the anguish which I feel at the sight of a human being who has to pass judgement on other men ... The judges themselves I could not condemn.' This painting is said to have been completed by 1936 although the artist was known to rework his older pictures over decades. It was acquired by Montague Shearman (1885-1940) from Alex Reid and Lefevre, London in 1939 and was bequeathed by him, with 9 other works, to the Contemporary Art Society, whose Hon. Secretary he was. It was immediately presented to the Tate Gallery, 5 years after the CAS had donated an earlier work by Rouault.

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