This is an earlier version of the work Rezo de una infeliz, also by the same artist, which is currently held at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. Both works form part of the same creative process, although due to some iconographic differences and the difference in proportions between the two works, they are considered independent pieces. In the work La Mendiga, Nonell’s hand, remarkably skilled in drawing, is revealed. The work was created during his first stay in Paris and, as evidenced by the inscription and the stamps that are still preserved on the reverse, it was sent to his friend Pere Romeu, manager at that time of the tavern “Els Quatre Gats” in Barcelona, a meeting place for the great Catalan artists of the time.