They are all framed.
Jane Rosenberg captures the world’s most notorious and wanted – but uses paper and pastels instead of badges and guns.
As New York’s top courtroom illustrator, Rosenberg makes her living depicting what goes on in the Big Apple’s courtrooms.
Harvey Weinstein, Bernie Madoff and John Gotti have all pulled their likenesses from her when they appeared to plead guilty or accept their sentences.
Since 1980, her drawings have been praised for conveying such strong elements of emotion and authenticity that sometimes, even on rare occasions, cameras are allowed in court, Rosenberg is still tasked with rendering her artistic image.
A selection of her best-known images are collected in her new book, “Drawn Evidence: My Four Decades as a Courtroom Sketch Artist” (Hanover Square Press), which was released this week.
Here, Rosenberg shares the inside stories of illustrating New York’s most legendary legal proceedings.
John Gotti, Brooklyn Federal Court, 1992:
John Gotti was on trial for murder and racketeering, but still walked around in an $1,800 suit and acted as vain as ever.
With his freedom at stake – the so-called ‘Teflon Don’ ended up getting a life sentence – he wanted to make sure he looked good in courtroom coverage.
“Gotti asked me to trim his beard,” Rosenberg told The Post. “He looked at me and pointed to his chin as if to cut it down, signaling that I should cut his double chin.”
Did she honor the request? “I don’t think so, but I was a little more careful.”
Gotti made it easy for Rosenberg to grab his feature while Salvatore “Sammy The Bull” Gravano yelled at his boss.
“Gotti smiled a lot and made hand gestures like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ What do you think you’re doing?” Rosenberg said. “He hoped the jury wouldn’t believe Sammy. And that was good for me.”
Rosenberg liked to draw Gotti and his partners in crime. “They were like cartoons,” she said. “They were all wonderful. Right out of central casting.”
Ghislaine Maxwell, Thurgood Marshall’s Federal Court, 2020:
Ghislaine Maxwell was in court for a preliminary hearing, facing charges of enticing minors to engage in unlawful sexual acts, a crime for which she would later be convicted.
Rosenberg sat in the jury box, when no jurors are present, she is sometimes allowed to work from inside the box, sketching away.
It could be a challenge, as the hearing took place during COVID-19 and everyone in the courtroom was masked.
But Maxwell, the former right-hand woman of notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, did Rosenberg an unwitting favor: “She started sketching me while I was sketching her. So I had to draw it.
“People have theories that she was doing it to get me away. I have no idea. But I went to her lawyer during the break and asked to see what she was drawing. He said, ‘Oh, Jane, you know I can’t tell you’.”
But even without Maxwell’s artistic act, Rosenberg said, there would be a lot to capture: “She had a lot going on with the shape of her hair, her eyes, her eyebrows. It is a challenge to get a likeness when someone wears a mask. But even with the mask, it was enough for me. I was lucky.”
Harvey Weinstein, New York Supreme Court, 2018:
Weinstein was taken directly from police headquarters to the Supreme Court on his charge of rape and sexual misconduct. Rosenberg was waiting, art supplies in hand.
“There were agents on each side of Weinstein and he looked disoriented when he entered the courtroom,” Rosenberg said. “He seemed to be walking towards me, although he may have asked for his lawyer. I don’t know why he got so close to me, but his belly was highlighted by the overhead lights and his arms were being pulled back.”
With only a few minutes to sketch Weinstein, Rosenberg focused on his prominent abs. “Of course, I made him look very fat,” she said. “I didn’t touch him or anything after that. It just came out. I could have caught something about Weinstein, but the form was too heavy.”
If this bothered Weinstein, he said nothing to Rosenberg about it. Later, however, during jury selection for his trial, he made a request. “He was going out [of the courtroom]saw my drawings and said, ‘Can’t you give me more hair?'”
Weinstein was eventually convicted at trial, a verdict which was then sensationally overturned in April.
Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, Supreme Court of New York, 1993
Think what you will about Woody Allen, but during his custody trial with Mia Farrow over their three children, Rosenberg formed her opinion of the director: “He was fun to draw. Great face, lots of character, just like you see in the movies.”
Mia Farrow was more of a struggle. “Beautiful women have a subtlety about them that’s hard to capture,” Rosenberg said. “It’s easier to catch someone with big features.”
Did the ease of drawing Woody lead Rosenberg to give him a break in terms of what she conveyed? “I’m not drawing based on my feelings. I draw based on what they show. He had his hands crossed. He looked weighed down and bored. You could have cut the air between them.”
Bernie Madoff, Manhattan Federal Court, 2009:
Bernie Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 felony counts that included securities fraud and wire fraud for defrauding his $65 billion investment clients.
The victims saw him as the devil. But he did not appear that way to Rosenberg.
“Madoff’s face didn’t reveal the person he really was,” Rosenberg said, admitting she couldn’t cover things up to convey the truth. “He was a master con man who looked like a nice old man. He didn’t look like a criminal at all.”
Some of its features helped during the process. “He had that nose, which stood out,” Rosenberg said. “And there was the wavy gray hair. These things made it not so difficult to draw.”
Bringing the truth to the situation were his victims who were observing the statement. “They’re angry and upset,” Rosenberg said, voicing what she conveyed in her illustration. “They are tortured and enraged and want justice. I thought it was important to include them.”
Rosenberg, now in her 70s, lives in Manhattan, where she is the mother of one child and the wife of defense attorney Lou Freeman — the only lawyer she has yet to bring to the fore.
“He doesn’t want me to show up [in a courtroom where he is working] and sketch it,” Rosenberg said. “He doesn’t want me there.”
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Image Source : nypost.com