To fanger fra Forbedringshuset 1833

This drawing by Martinus Rørbye depicts two prisoners from the house of correction. The figures stand with a subdued stillness that belies the social stigma attached to incarceration in 1833. The prisoners' attire is particularly evocative. The neutral tones and simple cuts of their garments speak to a symbolic erasure of identity, a visual representation of their removal from society. The garments, however, bear a resemblance to beggar's garb through the ages, from medieval woodcuts to Renaissance paintings, where similar clothing signified poverty and social exclusion. Consider how the image of the 'outcast' recurs in art, a reflection of collective anxieties about societal order. These figures, rendered with a disarming calmness, tap into a deep well of cultural memory, reminding us of society's long-standing struggle with marginality and the cyclical nature of social exclusion.