Waiting For The Verdict Analysis

I visited the Getty museum in Los Angeles. My favorite piece at the Getty is actually a pair of oil paintings by Abraham Solomon (1857). Both Waiting for the Verdict and Not guilty capture the emotions before and after the announcement of a Victorian man’s verdict. In the first piece, Waiting for the Verdict, Solomon illustrates an array of emotions that reflect the moment. In the lower left of the painting, a remorseful man sits with his head in his hands while his body leans forward, portraying his fatigue. A dog rests his head on the man’s leg, watching him curiously. A little distance away from the man, sits an older woman draped in clothing. She distractedly peers down at an infant in her arms. Below her, on the floor, sits a tired middle-aged woman. The artist portrays the woman as a distant, pained and depressed woman, evident in the creases lining her face and a small tear beneath her eye. Her right hand is pushing on her left, and there is a noticeable pressure and stiffness to her position that signifies the stress in her body and mind. Sat at the woman’s lower body is a sleeping child, demonstrating the exhaustion of the day. A hat is near the child’s feet with its flowers sprawled across the floor. Through the dramatically sprawled flowers and hat thrown on the floor, the artist conveys the exhaustion and even desperation of the scene. At the …show more content…
The previously remorseful man is now seen thanking the judge, full of relief. Below him lies the man who is not guilty, exhausted while also thankful. The middle-aged woman hangs on his neck, relieved and shining with tears. Beside the couple is the older woman again who still holds the infant reaching for the not guilty man. In the far lower corner of the painting the young woman smiles at the child, now awake and wearing the hat. Finally, in the upper corner, the courthouse door is open as someone points to a man running