Artwork
Beggar with Rosary
Beggar with Rosary is an ink print by the Baroque artist French 17th Century. It dates from 1622 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. The work is an etching executed on laid paper, depicting a solitary figure identified as a beggar.
About this work
Overview
The work is an etching executed on laid paper, depicting a solitary figure identified as a beggar. The composition centers on an elderly man in tattered garments, clutching a rosary in one hand and a hat in the other. His long beard, loose robes, and scuffed shoes convey a sense of weariness, while the overall impression is one of modest, unembellished realism.
Subject & Meaning
The image presents a humble, possibly religiously devout, individual whose possessions are reduced to a rosary and a hat, symbols of prayer and livelihood. The emphasis on his aged, tired appearance invites contemplation of poverty, piety, and the social margins of early modern life, reflecting a moral or didactic interest in the conditions of the poor.
Technique & Style
Created through the etching process, the artist incised lines into a metal plate and allowed acid to bite the exposed areas, producing ink‑filled grooves that yield sharp yet irregular marks when printed. The resulting lines are dark, rough, and uneven, characteristic of 17th‑century printmaking, where the technique enabled fine detail alongside a spontaneous, sketch‑like quality.
History & Provenance
The print belongs to the broader corpus of 1600s etchings, a period when the medium was widely employed for both artistic and documentary purposes. Specific details about the artist, date of execution, or subsequent ownership are not recorded in the available information, limiting the work’s documented provenance to its material and stylistic attributes.
Artist & collection
Artist
Seventeenth-century French printmakers turned ink into story. Their tools were burin and acid, paper their stage. Look at the Beggar Woman with Rosary (1622), etched on laid paper, her hands folded around faith, or The…
