I have been looking for the name of a painting that appeared in DA Adam Schiff's office in the original TV series "Law and Order". The painting has a man in a suit, balding with hair still on both sides of his head. He is wearing glasses and looking down at a paper. He seems to be holding a pen or a brush in his right hand. I have been wondering what this painting was for over 20 years. Google Image searches come up with nothing, nor do any fan sites. Does anyone in FUNTRIVIA land know what this is?

Look at the third comment. Maybe this is the correct answer?
https://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question111340.html

AI suggestions are Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau, Manhattan DA Frank Hogan, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and actor William Prince.

Do you know an episode name the painting is in?

The painting is on this webpage:

https://www.reddit.com/r/LawAndOrder/comments/1rxoven/portrait_in_adam_schiffs_office_law_order/

For what it's worth, my $.02...
I don't believe it's Robert Morgenthau, the shape of the face is wrong, and he's got to much hair...
Same for Frank Hogan, and Felix Frankfurter to much hair... A possibility that hasn't been mentioned, but I can't find a painted portrait for is former New York Attorney-General Robert Abrams, he was in office 1979 - 1993, which makes him the Attorney-General the first three years Adam Schiff (Steven Hill) presumably held office which would have been 1990-2000. The link below is for a photo of Robert Abrams.

https://alchetron.com/Robert-Abrams

Serpa,

I looked into all of those possibilities and none seem to quite fit (BTW, I think the reason AI returned those answers is because it scraped earlier discussions that were on Reddit et al). The Google image search returns a whole bunch of insanity including Eisenhower.

To answer your question, it appears in the background in many, many episodes as it is a permanent fixture on Adam Schiff's wall.

elburcher,

I really like this possibility. Robert Abrams is not a name that has come up before in my research. I will look further.

gtho4!!!!!!

That link you sent me was AMAZING. That is actually MY screenshot that I posted years ago on a different Reddit forum - r/WhatIsThisPainting. I still have it on my computer. It was taken down after a day because I didn't own the painting....amazing to see it resurface. Someone must have grabbed it in the 24 hours it was up.

Thanks to all of you for these suggestions,

J

As an art historian, I have to say that that portrait is:

1) Not a very good painting, and
2) Something that looks hastily painted solely for the purposes of the show.

The fact is that law offices and prosecutors' offices often have portraits of former partners and prosecutors on the walls. It's pretty much a standard feature of the decor. My guess is that the set dressers for the show decided to include a painting intended to represent a former prosecutor. Possibly, it's a copy of a portrait of a real former Manhattan prosecutor, and perhaps the original actually hangs in the DA's office in New York. It could also have been intended to suggest that it was one of Schiff's relatives.

Whatever the case, it's just not of very good quality, which is why I don't think it's anything more than a piece of set decoration. I have to add that it doesn't much resemble Robert Abrams in my eyes.

lanfranco,

Thank you for your analysis, and I can see what you mean about it looking like a piece of throw together schlock. I have also wondered if it was that as well. However, there seems to be a few things that might indicate that it isn't just a piece of "fabricated" set dressing:

1) All of the other pictures in the DA's office are real (Beardless Abe Linclon, Manhattan skyline...) which would make this one an outlier
2) The camera actually focuses on it from time to time, at least twice at the end of an episode we get a full framing of it as the camera pans over to it and then fades to black.
3) Adam never refers to it, even in passing, which if it were meant to be a relative, you would think he would at least once.

But you are totally right that the painting is at least weird. I don't have your trained eye, but the angle that the man in the photo is holding his pencil is at least a choice and totally unnatural at best. Would a manufactured set piece have been that sloppy? Most of the background art that I see is anodyne rather than creative.

I know you have already replied, but could you let us know any more thoughts you had on this?

Thanks,

J

Oh, sorry. I didn't see your reply earlier.

I don't have much in the way of additional thoughts, but I have to wonder whether the painting might have had some meaning for the actor. Possibly he chose to use it on set? Or it's a (bad) copy of a portrait he cared about?

It actually might even be a portrait of him. I recall Steven Hill largely form my childhood and the first year of the old "Mission Impossible" series, but by the time he appeared in "Law and Order," he was bald and rather round-faced. That fits.

I can't offer more, beyond the fact that I don't think the portrait is "weird"; it's just not very good. For that reason, I still think it was hastily produced specifically for the series. I just can't say why or exactly whom it was intended to represent.