Destitute Mother and Child in Winter (c. 1850): Art, History and Details

Destitute Mother and Child in Winter (c. 1850) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Octave Tassaert (French, 1800–1874).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

One of France's leading artists of the mid-19th century, Octave Tassaert was known for his paintings of downtrodden workers, destitute mothers, suicides, and abandoned children. Viewers responded positively to his focus on issues of social injustice, as seen in this painting of a poor mother resting outdoors in the snow with her baby. She is leaning against a pile of sticks, a common activity among the poor of gathering and selling small pieces for wood for burning in fireplaces or stoves.

Object facts

• Title: Destitute Mother and Child in Winter
• Date: c. 1850
• Creator attribution: Octave Tassaert (French, 1800–1874)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 33 x 25 cm (13 x 9 13/16 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 2013.257

A detail from the museum

Greatly admired by writers and social activists, Octave Tassaert provided illustrations for books by such celebrated authors as Alexandre Dumas père and Victor Hugo.

Collection credit

Gift in memory of Helen Borowitz

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.