(The Beggars) / 1878 / Oil on canvas / 62 x 41 cm / Artist: Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo / Alejandro Roces collection

Los Mendigos was executed by Hidalgo at age 18. Its finesse presages the exquisite skill of the artist’s many award-winning pieces in Europe and the United States. Approached with sensitivity as portrait subjects, the two mendicants and their plight are portrayed compassionately. Finely modulated shadows establish a sympathetic mood, softening the rugged textures of the dishevelled clothes. A complementing soft light endows the faces of the children with quiet dignity.

Focused are the two subjects, occupying almost the whole area of the painting and situated on the immediate foreground. Hidalgo suggested depth through the use of deep shadows in the background. Evoking a cool atmosphere are the shadows and the bright yellow-green shrubbery seen at the right, glazed with a misty light that is a telltale mark of the artist’s early works. The bronze tones of the beggar’s skin, red stripes of the young girl’s skirt, and the thin blue stripes of the young boy’s shirt provide color variety and contrast. The oblique position of the violin in the boy’s left hand, repeated by his right leg’s bent position, and the diagonal line created by the collar of the girl’s blouse that has fallen on her left shoulder offset the verticality of the beggars’ forms.