The Distraint, 1845
Oil on canvas
Dimensions without frame97 × 113 cm
Dimensions with frame110 × 127 cm
About the workThis work belongs to a series of socially critical pictures that are a special feature of Düsseldorf painting towards the middle of the nineteenth century. Drastic scenes like this were intended to evoke compassion. The craftsman’s wife’s pleading makes the mercilessness of the debt collectors all the more vivid. The Rhenish painter Peter Schwingen illustrates the contrast between these characters by spatially assigning the workroom to the indebted craftsman and the sleeping quarters to the rich creditor.
AccessionAcquisition 1979
Provenance[...]; 1979 angekauft von der Galerie Paffrath, Düsseldorf, mit Unterstützung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
Inventory numberM 1979-6
