Public Works: Community Service

At the beginning of the 16th century, some offenders are sentenced to compulsory labor in service of the community or common good. These convicts are confined at night but spend their days at work, often on the street or underground. Tasks include digging coal mines, building roads or houses, and going door to door collecting human waste.

Men Shoveling Chairs Rogier van der Weyden, ca.1399-1464