Old Beggar Woman 1833 - 1838

Editor: Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps' "Old Beggar Woman," etched sometime between 1833 and 1838, really pulls you in. The landscape feels desolate, even with that suggestion of a house in the background. What's your reading of this somber little world, its spartan etched texture? Curator: Oh, it's absolutely steeped in the melancholy that Romanticism loved so dearly! I see a journey, perhaps the journey of life itself. Decamps is, for me, whispering about the weight of time and circumstance. It's almost as if the etching itself, with its deliberate lines and shadows, mirrors the wrinkles and burdens the woman carries. Doesn’t it feel like more than just a depiction of poverty? Like a universal lament? Editor: I see what you mean, the universal lament. I hadn’t considered it in that grand scheme, caught up as I was in the grit of her reality. Curator: And that grit is essential. Look at the way he renders her clothing, the stoop of her shoulders. There’s no sugar-coating. It reminds me that Romanticism, for all its idealism, also stared unflinchingly at the bleaker aspects of existence. The beauty emerges not in spite of, but through acknowledging the harshness. I find myself wondering, where is she going? Editor: Good point. And if there is more than mere, say, landscape plus a figure... it is about the in-between. The actual action of her traveling. She embodies the 'in-between', always moving, never quite arriving. Thanks! Curator: Exactly! That sense of perpetual motion, of being caught between places, possibilities, that to me *is* the poignant core of the artwork. We're both voyagers here. That image stays with you long after you’ve moved on, doesn't it?