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Le Mendiant
Le Mendiant
Le Mendiant

Le Mendiant

Maker (French, 1761-1845)
Date1822
MediumHand-colored lithograph on wove paper
DimensionsSheet: 13 3/4 x 10 3/8 in. (34.9 x 26.4 cm)
Credit LineUniversity Transfer from Max Epstein Archive
Object number1967.116.428
Status
Not on view
Description

Boilly, a native of northern France, lived in Paris from the age of twenty-four and gained a reputation as a gifted caricaturist and illustrator. In this print, a ragtag sort teaches a foppish boy how to beg. Despite the ambiguous transgression of class boundaries, the image reinforces rather than overturns accepted social hierarchies.