Waiting for the Verdict.Not Guilty.

A magnificent pair of the largest legal engravings ever made, by the British artist Abraham Solomon.

Solomon sets legal drama in a provincial town during the assizes, or temporary courts. The setting, costume and accessories are all painted with great attention to detail.

In the first engraving a family is shown in anguish and fear of the unknown verdict, of a young man who has been accused of a crime. A young boy is asleep on his mother’s lap and the young man’s mother holds an infant; the family dog rests its head on the father’s knee.

In the second, Solomon reveals the family’s relief now that the man has been acquitted. It seems he was wrongly accused or the victim of a malicious charge as in the background a bystander points accusingly at a man leaving the courthouse. It is clear that the guilty man is escaping and the original charge was malicious.