The Heart of the City That Once Was

A young woman with a tired face and dark circles under her eyes is sitting on a stool, hunched over, looking defeated. With one arm, she is rocking a crib with an infant sleeping inside, with the other she is embracing a small girl. She is staring into the void, motionless. Standing in the room in front of her is a group of older bearded men clad in black. Gesturing with a theatrical flair, they are showing her a long piece of white fabric. This seemingly unimpressive genre scene hides plenty fascinating stories. 

The Last Garment – the title of the illustration made by Karol Młodnicki for the Tygodnik Ilustrowany weekly in 1873 (after his own painting) – suggests that the fabric held up by the men in the picture is a burial shroud, and the young mother to whom they are paying a visit is terminally ill. The sketch may be interpreted as an almost journalistic snapshot from the life of the Jewish community in Lviv (where the author lived) or as a culturally universal allegory of transience – birth and death, where the crib symbolises the beginning of life, and the burial shroud its end. Regardless of the angle of interpretation, the symbolic message of the eponymous garment remains unchanged. 

In Judaism, care of people nearing death and burial rituals are performed by a particular type of societies known as chevrot. The first was founded in Spain in 1594. In the 19th century, the vast majority of chevrot were led by men, although only women were allowed to handle female bodies. We may assume that the chevra members visited the sick mother to pay their respects and explain what happens to the deceased in each stage of the burial ceremony. In addition, visiting the sick was a mitzvah – a good deed. 

They probably explained to her that the body would first undergo the taharah, which is a purification ritual performed by pouring exactly 24 quarts of water over the corpse. Then they likely went on to present the white fabric to the woman, telling her that the deceased would be shrouded in a similar hand-woven linen or muslin veil and laid to rest in a simple wooden casket. The burial furnishings have their own name – tachrichim. 

It was forbidden to clothe the deceased in ostentatious, flashy garments. They had to be simple, as all deceased were to be equal in death. The shroud was hand-stitched and devoid of any decorative elements, knots, or pockets, so that the late person would not take any earthly objects to the afterlife. It was forbidden to cut the fabric with scissors – it was to be torn over the head of the deceased. Loose threads were not pulled and instead burnt off with candles. 

Tachrichim continue to be used to the present day. The furnishings are gender-specific and consist of a shirt, trousers, head and face covering, and a belt. However, many non-religious Jews prefer to be buried in regular clothes instead of the traditional “last garment”. The majesty of death as the great equaliser has given way to the desire to be remembered as an individual. 

Still, when I look at Młodnicki’s work, I don’t think just about the scene itself but also about the artist, as the course of his life was heavily branded by a reflection on passing. He married Wanda Monné, a writer, sculptor, translator and widow of his late friend Artur Grottger. He was involved in the preparations for the burial of his famous acquaintance, and by marrying Wanda he fulfilled his last wish. They converted their home into a sanctuary dedicated to the man they both loved so much. Wanda wrote in one of her poems: May all the people living here forget me and may nobody mourn my death. We shall be together! As ever, forever – I shall be the kindred shadow of your spirit. 

When painting female figures, Artur Grottger would often give them Wanda’s face. When I’m looking at the pained expression of the sick girl in Karol Młodnicki’s work, I, too, see Wanda’s face and eyes – unsure if it is real or just a product of my imagination. 

In our digital repository, the object can be viewed in the highest quality.

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