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In the tradition of Honoré Daumier and his infamous political caricatures, Les Gens de Justice, the present drawing satirises the provincial magistrate. An elongated hat known as a toque perches on the magistrate’s neatly cut hair, dwarfing the robes of his lower half. The magistrate sits in a cart supported by coins bearing the stamp of the district “Juge de paix de Canton…”. Leashed snails pull the cart forward as the figure holds the “enrolement” bar, possibly commenting on the pace of the judicial system. However, whereas Daumier saw himself imprisoned for his caricatures of the judiciary élite, Richard Andrieu played both sides of the field and belonged to that very same group.

Andrieu occupies a curious liminal space in Toulonnais history and public conscious. In spite of his lengthy and distinguished career as an attorney, it is the street and physiotherapy machine, both of which take his name, that have ensured Andrieu’s posterity. The Rue Richard Andrieu is one of Toulon’s culinary backstreets off the city’s port, whilst the Bobine Andrieu, a product borne of Andrieu’s early enthusiasm for bodybuilding, can still be found in many gyms to this day. What even fewer people are probably aware of is the fact that Andrieu was something of a turn-of-the-century Renaissance man, placing a Hippocratic emphasis on the balance between body and mind. In addition to his invention of the “bobine” and his legal work, Andrieu undertook many cultural projects: working as an illustrator, featuring in a number of Toullonais publications; an art critic, publishing reviews of the Salon Toulonnais; and a writer of prose, composing on many subjects, including health and provincial humour. During the Great War he was also awarded the Légion d'Honneur.

In the 1890s Andrieu published two series of caricatures entitled Scènes de Moeurs Toulonnaises: Albums de caricatures avec légendes, satirising Toulonnais customs and stereotypes. In 1913 he executed another, Sous le Calèn, Scenes Et Croquis De Moeurs Provencaux, focusing on the people of Provence more broadly.