Study probably for Clown et Enfant (Clown and Child) from the Circus series

Study probably for Clown et Enfant (Clown and Child)

Georges Rouault

About 1930

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A skeleton figure stands on top of a human figure. His foot kicks underneath the human's chin. The human, kneeling on both knees, writhes in pain. In the human's left hand is a knife. In the background is a baby laying upside down.
Cornelis van der Geest was a merchant and art collector. He is seen here in portrait from the waist up. He wears a ruff and a cloak hanging over his right arm. He looks to the proper right and crosses his arms at his stomach. This image is from the Gillis Hendricx edition of the Iconography (Icones Principum Virorum Doctorum, Pictorum Chalcographorum Statuorum nec non Amatorum Pictoriae Artis Numero Centum), 1632-44.
This painting depicts an episode from the legend of the Four Crowned Martyrs who were Christian sculptors working for the Roman Emperor Diocletian. When the sculptors refused to carve a statue of a pagan god, Diocletian ordered that the sculptors be sealed alive in lead coffins and thrown into a river. On the left, Diocletian, identified by his crown, directs a group of men in the center to lift a coffin.
A man and woman are depicted facing left. The man is dressed with a cape and black hat. The woman in dressed in a long dress with loose sleeves. Her face is covered with a veil.