Rosenberg studied
fine art at the
Art Students League of New York, where
abstract art was more popular than her preferred realism. She describes herself as having been a "closet portrait artist", drawing portraits in her kitchen. After graduating, she worked as a
portrait artist in
Provincetown, Massachusetts, sketching tourists for a dollar and
busking by reproducing famous paintings in
sidewalk chalk. When Rosenberg attended a lecture by courtroom artist Marilyn Church at the
Society of Illustrators, she was inspired to attempt courtroom sketches herself. To prepare a portfolio, Rosenberg began to attend the evening sessions of the
New York City Criminal Court, where she sketched prostitutes at their
arraignments. When she asked a
court officer where the artists sat, he invited her to join them in the
jury box the following week during the arraignment of
Craig Crimmins.
CNN declined to buy the sketch, but Rosenberg successfully sold it to
NBC, which aired the image on the evening news. The 1980 sale began Rosenberg's career as a courtroom artist. Rosenberg, who has now worked as a courtroom sketch artist for more than 40 years, lives on the
Upper West Side of
Manhattan, near
Columbia University. She is married to a
criminal defense attorney whom she met at a courthouse; the couple have one child. == Works ==