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Sufferers from the Floods
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Smith and Thomson decided to photograph the once-prosperous Rowletts in front of the rag shop that they owned and lived in to show that the floods caused long-term financial losses and health problems that drove even the middle class into poverty. The woman with the baby lived in the house next door; her entire family suffered constant colds and rheumatism from the persistent dampness.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineStreet Life in London: Sufferers from the Floods, 1877. John Thomson (Scottish, 1837–1921). Woodburytype; image: 11.5 x 9 cm (4 1/2 x 3 9/16 in.); paper: 11.5 x 9 cm (4 1/2 x 3 9/16 in.); mounted: 27 x 20.7 cm (10 5/8 x 8 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Photography Discretionary Fund, 2019.52
