Focus on this artwork and explain the Painting.
A Parisian street is the setting for this urban drama. Soldiers lead a mother and her ragged children away to prison for the crime of vagrancy. An elegant woman is trying to intercede with the soldiers, while a frustrated workman stands on her right. The attempt is doomed to failure as shown by the soldier's gesture of refusal. A similar scene can be found in Victor Hugo's Things Seen.Stevens approaches the theme of poverty from a political rather than a social angle, choosing to depict not only individual generosity (represented by the wealthy woman attempting to intervene with the soldiers), but also State repression. The State, personified here by the soldiers (one of whom appears to reject the charitable gesture of the wealthy lady), does not protect but rather seems to consider the homeless mother and her young children (the weakest and most fragile in society) as harmful, dangerous, even criminal.The choice of the wintry season, the gloomy light, the dark shades of the clothes and uniforms, the absence of a horizon (blocked by the dark grey wall in the background which fills the entire width of the painting), the simplicity of the characters (the cold and unwavering soldiers, the mother resigned, the lame worker with his crutch, the tearful child, and the wealthy woman attempting an act of generosity) all contribute to making this scene spontaneously moving.On the long grey wall, posters referring to property sales ("sale by auction") and the pleasures of high society ("ball"), conflict with the poverty and sorrow described in the painting.The different social groups who occupy the same urban space find themselves side by side here in a moving composition, and the role of the State, purely repressive, does not come out well.Stevens' objective was to denounce the poor living conditions in the towns and the cruel treatment meted out to those who lived there. As mentioned, the message struck a chord with Napoleon III who, upon seeing this painting at the 1855 Universal Exhibition, supposedly remarked: "That will not happen again." Accordingly, the Emperor ordered that any vagrants should henceforth be taken to the Conciergerie, not on foot, but hidden away in a closed carriage.
Conciergerie right vagrancy Paris Napoleon III Victor Hugo