(Comines, 1825 - Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, 1870)
1857
Oil on canvas - Van Cutsem bequest - 1904
This painting is a major work by Charles Degroux, one of the leading representatives of Realism in nineteenth-century Belgian painting. The artist expresses his empathy for the working classes in this work, painted in a range of dark tones dominated by blacks, adding an austere ambience to this misery-tinged scene.