The Hon. Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG (b.1939) has been a justice of the High Court of Australia since 1996, having been a judge in the NSW Supreme Court from 1984 to 1996. He has led or served on numerous international committees on subjects relating to human rights, ethics, bio-ethics and health. He was President of the International Commission of Jurists, 1995-98.

This painting refers to a speech Kirby made when leaving the presidency of the NSW Court of Appeal, in which he paid tribute to the line of judges before him who wore ‘the crimson and fur’. Two former presidents of the NSW Supreme Court, Justices Sugarman and Wallace, are identifiable.

Artist Ralph Heimans observed that judges are the best sitters because they're used to sitting still. Kirby sat for a mere three hours. Kirby lent the artist his robes and during the summer of 1996-7, friends and family members posed for the studies.

Heimans approached several judges about participating, to no avail. Two former Presidents of the Supreme Court are depicted: Justice Sugarman, in the glasses; and Justice Wallace. Sugarman and Wallace are in fact ‘ghosts’ – they both died in the 1960s. Their families were happy for them to appear and provided photos; the faces are reconstructed from these.

Most judges are seen in back view, to heighten mystery. Some people have seen the judges’ backs as indicative of judicial removal. Kirby by contrast looks forward, with his wig off – he is apart from the others. The fact that they are disappearing into a void heightens the mystery.