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The Blind Beggar
(18th and 19th Centuries )
Bathed in sunlight, an attractive young woman in Dutch country dress leans from an open window in one corner of a vine-covered cottage. She reaches out to drop coins in the hat of a young man outside her window, who is wearing a patched and dirty tunic. He is soliciting charity on behalf of an elderly woman, who waits beside him in a wheeled, hand-drawn conveyance. A glimpse of a distant landscape is visible over the brick wall to the right. Although Alma-Tadema was only 20 when he painted this scene, he already shows in it the narrative skills that will bring him such success with his later re-creations of life in Greek and Roman antiquity. This genre scene was the artist's first major commission.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Bernard N. Baker, Ingleside Estate, Catonsville, Maryland; Antonio Carozza, Catonsville, 1919, by purchase [in conjunction with the purchase of Baker's house and property]; Thomas A. Carozza [grandson], White Hall, 1954, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 2000, by gift.
Measurements
25 x 21 1/4 in. (63.5 x 54 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. A. Thomas Carozza II, in memory of Antonio T. and Margueretta Carozza, 2000
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.2761