Courtroom sketch artist reveals secrets behind her iconic pics of John Gotti, Ghislaine Maxwell and Harvey Weinstein

They’re all framed.

Jane Rosenberg captures the world’s most notorious and most wanted – but uses paper and pastels rather than a badge and gun.

As New York’s top courtroom illustrator, Rosenberg makes her living by depicting what goes down in the Big Apple’s halls of justice.

Harvey Weinstein, Bernie Madoff and John Gotti have all had their likenesses drawn by her when they appeared to plead their cases or accept their sentences.

Since 1980, her drawings have been credited with conveying such strong elements of emotion and truthfulness that sometimes, even on rare occasions cameras are allowed in court, Rosenberg is still commissioned to provide her artistic take.

A selection of her most telling images are collected in her new book “ Drawn Testimony: My Four Decades as a Courtroom Sketch Artist ” (Hanover Square Press), which dropped this week.

Here, Rosenberg shares the inside-stories of illustrating New York’s most legendary legal proceedings.

Joh Gotti , Brooklyn Federal Court, 1992:

John Gotti was on trial for murder and racketeering but still swanned around in an $1,800 suit and acted as vain as ever.

With his freedom at stake – the so-called ‘Teflon Don’ wound up being sentenced to life in prison – he wanted to make sure he looked good in courtroom coverage.

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“Gotti asked me to trim down his chin,” Rosenberg told The Post. “He looked at me and motioned his fingers toward his chin, like slicing it down, signaling that I should chop his double chin.”

Did she honor the request? “I don’t think so, but I was a little more careful.”

Gotti made it easy for Rosenberg to capture his distinctiveness while Salvatore “Sammy The Bull” Gravano squealed on his boss .

“Gotti smirked a lot and made hand gestures, like, ‘Are you kidding? What do you think you’re doing?’” said Rosenberg. “He was hoping that the jury would not believe Sammy. And that was good for me.”

Rosenberg enjoyed drawing Gotti and his partners in crime . “They were like caricatures,” she said. “They were all great. Right out of central casting.”

Ghislaine Maxwell, Thurgood Marshall Federal Courthouse, 2020:

Ghislaine Maxwell was in court for a pretrial hearing , facing charges for enticing minors to engage in illegal sex acts, a crime for which she would later be convicted.

Rosenberg sat in the jury box, when no jurors are present, she is sometimes allowed to work from inside the box, sketching away.

It could have been a challenge, since the hearing took place during COVID-19 and everybody in the courtroom was masked.

But Maxwell, the former right-hand woman of notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, did an unwitting favor for Rosenberg : “She started sketching me as I was sketching her. So, I had to draw that.

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“People have theories that she was doing it to throw me off. I have no idea. But I did go up to her lawyer during the break and asked to see what she was drawing. He said, ‘Oh, Jane, you know I can’t show you.’”

But even without Maxwell’s act of artistry, Rosenberg said, there would have been plenty to capture: “She had a lot going on with her hair-shape, her eyes, her eyebrows. It’s a challenge to to get a likeness when someone is wearing a mask. But, even with the mask on, I got enough of her. I was fortunate.”

Harvey Weinstein, New York Supreme Court, 2018:

Weinstein was taken straight from police headquarters to the Supreme Court for his arraignment on charges of rape and sexual misconduct. Rosenberg awaited him, with art supplies in hand.

“There were agents on each side of Weinstein and he seemed disoriented as he entered the courtroom ,” said Rosenberg. “He seemed to be walking right toward me, though he may have been looking for his lawyer. I don’t know why he came so close to me, but his belly was highlighted by the overhead lights and his arms were being pulled back.”

With just a few minutes to sketch Weinstein, Rosenberg focused on his standout belly. “Obviously, I made him look too fat,” she said. “I didn’t touch it up or anything afterward. It just went out. I might have captured something about Weinstein, but the shape was too heavy.”

If that bothered Weinstein, he didn’t say anything about it to Rosenberg. Later on, though, during jury selection for his trial, he lofted a request. “He was walking out [of the courtroom], saw my drawings and said, ‘Can’t you give me more hair?’”

Weinstein was eventually convicted at trial, a decision which was then sensationally overturned in April.

Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, New York Supreme Court, 1993

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Think what you will about Woody Allen , but during his custody trial with Mia Farrow over their three children, Rosenberg formed her own opinion of the director: “He was fun to draw. Great face, a lot of character, just like you see him in the movies.”

Mia Farrow was more of a struggle. “Beautiful women have a subtlety about them that is hard to capture,” said Rosenberg. “It’s easier to capture somebody with big characteristics.”

Did the easiness of drawing Woody lead Rosenberg to cut him a break in terms of what she conveyed? “I am not drawing based on my feelings. I draw based on what they are showing. He had his arms crossed. He looked aggravated and upset. You could have cut the air between them.”

Bernie Madoff, Manhattan Federal Court, 2009:

Bernie Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 felony counts that included securities fraud and wire fraud on his scamming investment clients out of $65 billion.

Victims viewed him as the devil. But he did not appear that way to Rosenberg.

“Madoff’s face did not reveal the person he really was,” said Rosenberg, acknowledging that she could not shade things to convey the truth. “He was a master con artist who looked like a nice old man. He did not look like a criminal at all.”

Certain of his characteristics helped along the process. “He had that nose, which stood out,” said Rosenberg. “And there was the wavy gray hair. Those things made him not so hard to draw.”

Bringing truth to the situation were victims of his who were spectating the plea. “They are angry and upset,” said Rosenberg, verbalizing what she conveyed in her illustraion. “They’re tortured and furious and they want justice. I thought it was important to include them.”

Rosenberg, now in her 70s, lives in Manhattan where she is a mother of one and wife of defense attorney Lou Freeman — the one lawyer she had yet to draw in action.

“He doesn’t want me to show up [in a courtroom where he is working] and sketch him,” Rosenberg said. “He doesn’t want me there.”

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