The Fuller Court Rare Photo

SUPREME COURT. Rare Photograph of The Fuller Court, “Chief Justice and Associate Justices / of the Supreme Court of the United States”, unsigned, sepia toned, 5.25” x 3.5”, adhered to its original mount, 6.5” x 4.25”. Napoleon Sarony, Photographer, 1890. Fine condition.

Pictured seated, from left: Justice Joseph P. Bradley, Justice Samuel F. Miller, Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller, and Justice Stephen J. Field and Justice John Marshall Harlan; standing, from left: Justice Samuel Blatchford, Justice Lucius Q. C. Lamar, Justice Horace Gray and Justice David J. Brewer.

The Fuller Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States from 1888 to 1910, when Melville Fuller served as the eighth Chief Justice of the United States. Fuller succeeded Morrison R. Waite as Chief Justice after the latter's death, and Fuller served as Chief Justice until his death, at which point Associate Justice Edward Douglass White was nominated and confirmed as Fuller's replacement.

During the era of the Fuller Court, the Judiciary Act of 1891 was passed, easing the burden of the Supreme Court by creating the United States Court of Appeals. The Fuller Court was the first of three consecutive conservative courts and established the Lochner era.

In February 1890, the Justices traveled to New York City to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first meeting of the Supreme Court of the United States, where they also posed for a group photograph by celebrated photographer Napoleon Sarony.

Sarony “turned a solemn tradition on its ear” by posing the Justices in a delightfully chaotic corner of his studio with a rumpled carpet, ropes dangling from the ceiling, and drapery flung over fish netting and bales of hay.  The Canadian-born Sarony was a colorful character and well-known portrait photographer whose primary subjects were the actors and actresses of the theater world.  He had also been a plaintiff before the Supreme Court six years earlier, in a landmark copyright case which established that photographers could copyright their own work and thus control how it is used.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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