The funeral of a poor quarter of Paris 1863

Vasily Perov created this drawing, "The Funeral of a Poor Quarter of Paris," to capture the somber reality of poverty. The scene is dominated by motifs of mourning and destitution. Note, in particular, the figure of the grieving mother clutching her child—a pietà, a symbol deeply rooted in Christian iconography. This evokes the Virgin Mary cradling the body of Christ, a motif that stretches back to antiquity. We see echoes of this maternal grief in ancient Egyptian depictions of Isis mourning Osiris, or even earlier, in Mesopotamian fertility goddesses. Yet, here, the sacred is juxtaposed with the profane: a common street replaces the hallowed halls of a church. The presence of the pig rooting nearby adds another layer of meaning, highlighting the stark contrast between spiritual suffering and the mundane realities of survival. This blend of sacred and secular, the emotional weight of the pietà, continues to resonate today, a testament to the enduring power of archetypes in our collective memory.