Peasant Family on the Tramp

Rembrandt often depicted beggars and cripples, such as this family on the tramp wearing rather old-fashioned clothing for the time. The peasant woman carries a baby on her back, its little head only just visible.This kind of image will have elicited fierce criticism around 1670: were such subjects worthy of being rendered? Should not art by definition portray only beauty? Rembrandt certainly did not subscribe to this view.