JULIA QUENZLER

As an Artist, Julia Quenzier is best known in the U.K. for her court drawings which have appeared on BBC News and in the National Press for many years. These sketches, produced using pastel pencils, are drawn from memory because it is a contempt of the court to actually sketch in the courtroom – a Law imposed by an act of Parliament in 1925.

Prior to her work as a court artist, Julia Quenzier concentrated on portraits. Following a move to the USA, she had studios in California and Arizona, also selling her portraits of Native American Indians in galleries in Wyoming and New Mexico.

Self taught, Julia Quenzier has always worked from life, rather than photographs. Although some portraits were painted in oils, drawings have always been her preference.

In her now historic collection of more than 5’000 drawings, there are some very famous faces – though it should be said, some were in the witness box rather than the dock! Klaus Barbie, Tony Blair, Dr Harold Shipman, Colonel Pinochet, Margaret Thatcher, Jeffery Archer,, Fred and Rosemary West, Rolf Harris, Several footballers and cricketers and Carlos The Jackal, to name just a few.

Recently there has been much talk about allowing cameras in court, but for now, the humble pencil prevails!