''The Crossing Sweeper'' is an 1858 painting by

William Powell Frith William Powell Frith (9 January 1819 – 2 November 1909) was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1853, presenting ''The Sleep ...

which has been described as breaking "new ground in its description of the collision of wealth and poverty on a London street." Frith later painted several versions of the same subject, updating the fashions.

Subject

The painting depicts a

crossing sweeper A crossing sweeper was a person working as a street sweeper who would sweep a path ahead of people crossing dirty urban streets in exchange for a gratuity. This practice was an informal occupation among the urban poor, primarily during the 19th ...

offering his services to a young woman who is looking out for a gap in traffic to cross the road. Crossing sweepers offered to sweep the streets in front of wealthy-looking pedestrians in the hope of a tip. The roads at that time were often smeared with horse dung because of the prevalence of horse-drawn vehicles. The woman has already lifted her dress to avoid its becoming soiled as she crosses. The sweepers were often regarded as nuisances who were little more than beggars. The woman in the painting may be pointedly trying to ignore the boy. This was a common theme in commentary on sweepers. An 1853 ''Punch'' cartoon entitled "the crossing sweeper nuisance" depicted a hapless middle-class man surrounded by importunate boys holding out their hands for money.Victorian Web: the Crossing Seeper Nuisance
In an 1858 issue of ''Building News'' similarly negative sentiments were expressed of "those juvenile highwaymen who, broom in hand, take possessions of our crossings and level black mail upon the public in general, and timid females in particular."Mark Bills, 'William Powell Frith's 'The Crossing Sweeper': An Archetypal Image of Mid-Nineteenth Century London', ''

The Burlington Magazine ''The Burlington Magazine'' is a monthly publication that covers the fine and decorative arts of all periods. Established in 1903, it is the longest running art journal in the English language. It has been published by a charitable organisation s ...

'', May 2004, pp. 301–3. Frith's sweeper is ostentatiously deferential, while also pushing close to the woman, setting extremes of poverty and wealth up against one another, a theme the artist explored in other works such as ''Poverty and Wealth'', ''For Better, For Worse'' and ''

The Derby Day ''The Derby Day'' is a large oil painting showing a panoramic view of The Derby, painted by William Powell Frith over 15 months from 1856 to 1858. It has been described by Christie's as Frith's "undisputed masterpiece" and also "arguably the ...

''.

Versions

William Powell Frith The crossing sweeper 1893

The 1858 painting is in the

Museum of London The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall Museum (fou ...

;Museum of London: The Crossing Sweeper (original and prints)
/ref> it was also reproduced in the same year as an engraving, becoming a well-known image. Frith created several copies in the 1890s, at a time in his career when much of his output comprised variations on his famous works. An 1893 version covers the brief glimpse of red stocking seen in the original with a lace undergarment. Another version from the same year updates the image by depicting the woman wearing the fashions of the 1890s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crossing Sweeper, The Paintings by William Powell Frith 1858 paintings Collections of the Museum of London Genre paintings London in art