Four Sketches of Soldiers, Peasants, Head of a Man, Old Woman

Sketches by the Parisian lithographer Hippolyte Bellangé take part in the Romantic tradition of vignettes: individual, loosely related images with round, fuzzy borders. They were made just before the start of the July Monarchy, a period when the motto of the French citizen-king, Louis-Philippe, was "Enrichissez-vous," or "Get rich." The stereotypical depictions include several scenes of begging which present an urban view of ragged and hungry people: humorous and nonchalant, rather than compassionate or socially concerned.