Beggar c. 1835

"Beggar" is a lithograph by Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps from around 1835. The piece, currently housed at The Art Institute of Chicago, features a single, stooped figure, likely a beggar, standing by a fence with a bag slung over his shoulder. The artwork uses strong contrasts of light and dark to create a sense of depth and drama. The figure is set against a background of a cloudy sky and a distant landscape, highlighting the solitude and hardship faced by the beggar. Decamps’ use of hatching and cross-hatching to create textures and volumes adds realism to the image, making this lithograph a prime example of the Romanticism movement in art.