Houtsprokkelaarsters met een huilend kind 1857 - 1883

Maurits Verveer created this photo zincography print, "Wood Gatherers with a Crying Child," in the nineteenth century. An elderly woman leads a weeping child through a snow-laden landscape, her burden of wood mirroring his burden of tears. The staff on which the woman leans is not merely a support, but an emblem of age and endurance, reminiscent of the scepters held by ancient patriarchs. The child's gesture of wiping his eyes is an age-old symbol of grief, echoing countless depictions of lamentation throughout art history. Consider the Mater Dolorosa, the sorrowful mother, whose tears embody universal suffering. Here, the child’s tears, though born of immediate discomfort, tap into this deeper well of human pain. This image transcends its immediate context, stirring primal memories of hardship and resilience. We see how symbols of sorrow and survival continually resurface, transformed yet timeless, in the ever-turning wheel of history.