"A scene in a Florentine street or piazza in front of a Gothic shrine (left) in which is a Virgin and child. Two blind beggars, each with a dog, are fighting. A well-dressed man walks off with their hats, looking at them over his shoulder with a smile. Spectators look from a window and a door. A penniless man of ancient family prays regularly to the Virgin for relief. On one occasion he hears two blind beggars at her shrine boasting of the wealth concealed in their hats; he thereupon runs away with the hats, confesses to a prelate, who approves, but insists on taking a major share of the spoil."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Blind beggars' hats
Description:
Title etched below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Temporary local subject terms: Beggars -- Blind men -- Fighting: Street fights -- Shrines: Virgin and Child -- Thieves -- Hats -- Dogs., Mounted on verso of: Map of part of the lands of Glanleam on the Island of Valencia, County of Kerry ... Ordinance Survey sheet 79 / by J.J. Byrne. Dublin : [Publisher nor identified], 1852., and Mounted to 23 x 30 cm.
