Before the Judge

A Roma, or traveler, makes a complaint to a local magistrate because a wealthy young man has broken his violin. 

(Click to enlarge image) The violin is his only way of making a living. Other members of his orchestra stand to testify for him. One of them has a bandage on his head. Has a punch been thrown? The accused stands nearby with his face smugly composed, his hands clasped, and his jacket casually tossed on his shoulder. Apparently he is the son of a wealthy landowner. 

The judge sits sidewise on his chair, giving a hearing but not his full sympathy. "Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty," he probably says. One of the women turns in disgust at what she's heard. Already one of the ragged company has become frustrated enough to throw down his hat. Will justice be done?

This is the riddle posed by Hungarian painter Sándor Bihari (1855-1966  --1906) Bihari trained in Vienna and then lived for a time in Paris, where he studied with Jean Paul Laurens and absorbed many of the ideas of Impressionism without losing his firm grasp on accurate drawing, characterization and storytelling.

There's no doubt about who is the protagonist in the scene, for the pleading man is a dark spot in the center of the composition with the background gradating up behind him. He's leaning forward, which catches our attention. Bihari skillfully downplays areas of the picture that a camera would render with unnecessary contrasting details, such as the map behind the judge's head and the rafters above. 

Storytelling is one of the greatest aims in painting. But it is not like the kind of storytelling in movies or novels or comics. Painting is not a narrative form; one does not relate a series of events. A painting is a single moment, perfectly chosen and balanced, with a series of clues left for the viewer to untangle.

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The painting, called "Biró elött," dates from 1886. It's in the Hungarian National Gallery.
Brief bio on Bihari in English
Wikipedia page on Bihari 

From the book “Genre Painting in the Hungarian National Gallery.” 
Bihari is also mentioned in Beyond Impressionism: The Naturalist Impulse