- Jane Rosenberg has worked as a courtroom sketch artist for more than four decades.
- While sketching the Ghislaine Maxwell trial, Rosenberg noticed Maxwell had sketched her back.
- Rosenberg obscures the facial features of anonymous witnesses and juries at trials.
For 41 years, New York City-based courtroom sketch artist Jane Rosenberg has captured the likeness of plaintiffs, defendants, lawyers, witnesses, judges, and juries in a flurry of pricey pastels, New York Magazine's Intelligencer reported.
She wakes up at 4 a.m. to nab a seat with an unobstructed view of the courtroom and employs her prescription binoculars in proceedings with limited seating, Rosenberg told Intelligencer.
When drawing anonymous juries or witnesses, such as "Jane" and "Matt" in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial, Rosenberg dilutes their facial features to obscure their likeness, the outlet reported. She has covered a number of high-profile cases – including the trials of Bill Cosby, R. Kelly, and Harvey Weinstein – that have sharpened her ability to draw faceless subjects.
A sketch that Rosenberg did of Maxwell, who has been charged with sex trafficking minors, went viral on Twitter after users noticed that the British socialite had simultaneously drawn the courtroom artist.
"She sketched me a few times in a row. Then she started nodding at me and waving at me. She even spoke to me once. It's really great for me. I'm not going to wreck it. I'm going to keep it going. I need to see her face," Rosenberg told Intelligencer. "It's like a photographer — they wait for that moment and say someone's name and they turn to them."
When asked if she intended to depict Maxwell as malevolent, Rosenberg said that wasn't her intention: "...I'm not going to say anything malevolent right now. I have this thing going! She's my sketching buddy."
—Jello Bea Arthur (@DJWillMartin) December 2, 2021
Other defendants, including Eddie Murphy, have also drawn Rosenberg during past court proceedings, Intelligencer reported.