Overblijfselen van de muur van Filips Augustus met daarvoor een tuinman aan het werk 1859 - 1860

Léopold Flameng created this print, "Remnants of the wall of Philip Augustus with a gardener working in front," using etching. It's interesting how Flameng situates a common laborer, a gardener, against the backdrop of the old wall of Philip Augustus. This wall, once a symbol of power and protection, is here presented as a ruin, a relic of a bygone era. The gardener becomes a figure of the present, diligently working amidst the remnants of history. There's a sense of melancholy in the depiction of the wall, overgrown and crumbling, and one wonders what Flameng, who lived through the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune, was thinking about the relationship between progress, labor, and the past. The gardener, in his quiet labor, perhaps symbolizes resilience and the ongoing cycle of life amidst the ruins of history.