This scene shows in different shots a social gathering of beggars on the outskirts of what could presumably be understood as a liturgical space where they would seek, through the charity of Christian parishioners, to obtain some coin for their sustenance. In the centre of the composition is one of them, dressed as best he can, teaching the word of God as he appears with a crucifix hanging around his neck, which he holds in his right hand before the attention of a small group of five beggars and the attentive gaze of one of them in the foreground. The image allows us to reconstruct the practices of begging in the Modern Age and the daily life of this unprivileged social group, traditionally absent from scholarly historical texts.
Collection: Images
Project: 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe., 7. Persecuted by justice and powers: rebels, political dissidents and criminals in the history of Europe.
Chronology: XVIII
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate
Resource type: Image
Format: Oil on canvas (105 x 126 cm)
Source: Museo del Prado (Madrid)
Language: Spanish
Date: Mediados siglo XVIII
Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)
Identifier: POOO331
Copyright: Museo del Prado (Madrid)
Abstract: Costumbrismo and social reality around begging in the 18th century, represented by Sasso
Image
Tags
AporofobiaCostumbrismoFrancesco SassoGrupos socialesMendicidadMendigosPinturasRealidad socialSiglo XVIIIVida cotidiana
