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02 pre view. 8 Honoré Daumier’s relationship with the state and its representatives in the legal system was, to put it mild- ly, ambivalent. One reason for this was his own sen- tencing to six months in prison and a fine, due to a po- litical caricature of the ‘Citizen King’ Louis-Philippe in the magazine ‘La Caricature’. The censorious French government of the time determined that Daumier’s depiction of the monarch as a bloated Gargantua, an insatiable glutton and drunkard was a crime against the state. Daumier’s oil painting ‘L’avocat lisant’ (ill. 4), shows a lawyer in the Palais de Justice in Paris, the setting for many of the artist’s depictions of attorneys. Clothed in black robes and engrossed in examining documents, the subject appears to be reviewing his dossiers. The dramatic lighting sets the scene, while the shadows of other lawyers can be glimpsed in the background. Daumier’s interest in the legal system of his time led him to attend public court hearings at the Palais de Justice, which was located not far from his studio on the Île Saint-Louis. In his lithographs and paintings, Daumier deftly captured the particularities of the trials and their protagonists, and his portrayals were imbued with pointed criticism. Félix Ziem was a master at capturing the fleeting ef- fects of light with bold, fresh colours, such as skilfully rendering flickering sunlight on water. His numerous paintings of Venice, created from the 1840s onwards, show the lagoon city as a destination for world travel- lers and enthusiasts. His career as a painter of Ven- ice began early, with his success as a debutant at the Paris Salon in 1849. The colourful painting in the September auction shows a view of the Dogana da Mar customs house and the church of Santa Maria della Salute, two of the most famous buildings in the Venetian cityscape (ill. 1). Boats and the typical gon- Of critics and enthusiasts Preview of the 19 th Century Paintings auction on 20 September 2024 dola symbolise the hustle and bustle on the canals and in the lagoon. The Italian-Austrian painter Eugen von Blaas shows an equally romantic but more hidden Venice with his subject of a young Venetian woman being fervently courted by an admirer (ill. 3). The German animal painter Alexander Koester shows us a whole flock of ducks and drakes in the sunlit water (ill. 2). Some of the birds swim purposefully towards their already densely packed fellows on the right-hand edge of the picture, while others curiously stretch their necks towards the group – their attention obviously focused on food. The painting, which has been in private ownership for over 70 years, dazzles with its perfect play of light. 1 Félix Ziem (1821–1911). La Douane et la Salute, vues du bassin. Oil on canvas. 60.5 × 81 cm. Estimate: CHF 20 000/30 000 2 Alexander Koester (1864–1932). Ducks in the evening light. Oil on canvas. 54 × 82 cm. Estimate: CHF 30 000/50 000 3 Eugen von Blaas (1843–1931). ‘The Offer’ – The con- fession of love. 1887. Oil on canvas. 87.5 × 56.5 cm. Estimate: CHF 60 000/80 000 4 Honoré Daumier (1808–1879). L'avocat lisant. Circa 1868–70. Oil on canvas. 41.5 × 33 cm. Estimate. CHF 150 000/200 000 1 2 3 For further information 19 th Century Paintings Karoline Weser weser@kollerauctions.com Online Catalogues www.kollerauctions.com