An itinerant
Marcellus Laroon the Elder French
Not on view
Laroon came to London from The Hague in 1674 and established himself as a studio assistant to Sir Godfrey Kneller. Working independently, he also painted portraits and drew vivid genre subjects whose unsentimental approach to everyday life anticipates William Hogarth. This small figure drawing on card likely once belonged to a large set and its style echoes engravings Laroon designed in 1687 titled "The Cryes of the City of London Drawne after the Life." Rather than an urban street vendor, however, this shows an itinerant, perhaps a decommissioned soldier with a drinking cup slung from his belt, leaning on a staff, with his hand in a sling.
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