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Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward A gaslight in the top left hand corner illuminates a stone building and horizontal band of huddling figures that lean against it. The path in front of the figures is light and textured, perhaps indicating a recent snowfall. In the left foreground, a woman dressed in dark and disheveled garments, clutches a small child underneath her shawl. Her head is bowed. Both her face and her right hand are in the cast light. To her right, a small child holds on to the fringe of the mother’s shawl. Her white bonnet is crumpled; her own shawl barely covers her shoulders, and her socks fall loosely about her legs. Behind them, the door opening and gaslight frame the mother and children. On the left, a policeman holds a white piece of paper in his hand as he chats with a slumping, mustachioed man. The man wears a top hat, pin striped pants and a wrinkled woolen jacket. He clasps his hands together tightly and carries a cane and wrapped parcel underneath his arm. In front of him, a slouching dog growls and shows his teeth. Leaning against the building, people in wrinkled and torn clothing sit, slouch and hold their arms tightly together. In the visual center, a man in a top hat has his head cast down. His jacket is open and his hands are in his pockets. His once clean and orderly clothing appear dirty, wrinkled and worn. Framed by a notice board, a family group is defined by light that illuminates the color of their clothing. The father cradles a barefoot, sleeping young girl in his arms. His capped head leans in towards the group. To the right, a woman wearing a striped bonnet and shawl presses two young girls towards her. The girls are in light dresses and are not wearing outer garments. The young boy, his face in cast light, wears torn garments and crouches towards the group. Notices on the board behind the group includes various offers of monetary rewards for deserted and missing children and dogs as well as one for absconding. Background Based on a witnessed event, Fildes’ composition illustrates groups of homeless people from various social classes. All placed on the same visual plane, their circumstance and fate remain equal. Under the Houseless Poor Act individuals - no matter what their social class - could apply for a ticket that entitled them to a night’s free food and shelter in the casual ward of a workhouse. As no individual or group is singled out, the painting’s intended message was one of sympathy and outrage. The group’s collective dire straights are illustrated within the figures themselves. Their distress is indicated with cast light, facial expression, and body position. They wear torn and/or inappropriate clothing, Originally created in 1869 as a print in Graphic magazine, this image was intended to elicit sympathy and feelings of social conscience from the viewer. Two mothers on either side of the canvas shield their children from the cruelty of the world. Nestled between them, another mother comforts her child. The first effect of poverty…is the confiscation of a poor man’s best time and thought, from sheer necessity, to the task of providing food and clothing for himself and his family.
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