A Recess on a London Bridge (1879)

Augustus E. Mulready's 1879 A Recess on a London Bridge shows a handsome lad falling asleep on one the great bridges which span the Thames. His shirt seems to be clean and he has a curious orange scarf draped across his arms and back. Any viewer inclined to sentimentality, however, is drawn to the large rip in his right trouser leg and the bare feet sticking out the other end. This child sleeps on a recess on bridge because he has nowhere better to go, and he deems it safer than some alley, or nasty, nocturnal den frequented by who-knows-what. Don’t you just want to pick him up and take him somewhere safe? To wrap your coat around him and carry him to a loving home?

Sadly, the inspiration and reality of the homeless lad was real enough in 1879, and may even be today, courtesy of people smugglers and ill-managed migration. Even if we do care better for our homeless children and adults than our forbears, there are cities enough around the world where this child will still be found, hiding during the night on bridges, in bins and in sewers.

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. Deuteronomy 10:17-19, New King James Version

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