About this artwork
In this picture, several families, unable to pay rent, move their households through the streets of Paris in search of new shelter. The tension of this social drama is expressed by the contradictory elements of the setting—to the left is the church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Rome. Most of the figures in the composition travel away from the Roman church. The owners of the principal wagon, however, a humble family that appears to have come from the provinces to make a fortune in Paris, move toward the distant mirage of the church. This juxtaposition alludes to the futility of such efforts in the grim urban and political realities of the time.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
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Artist
- Louis-Léopold Boilly
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Title
- The Movings
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Place
- France (Object made in)
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Date
- 1822
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Medium
- Oil on canvas
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Inscriptions
- Inscribed lower right: L. Boilly 1822
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Dimensions
- 28 3/4 × 36 1/8 in. (73 × 92 cm)
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Credit Line
- Harold L. Stuart Fund
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Reference Number
- 1982.494
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/97681/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
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