Honoré Daumier has drawn and painted images…

Honoré Daumier has drawn and painted images of rail travel since the 1840s.

The Third-Class Carriage evidences Daumier's interest, as also seen in his graphic works, in the lives of working-class Parisians.

Third-class railway carriages are cramped, dirty, open compartments with hard benches, filled with those who cannot afford second or first-class tickets.

In the bench facing the viewer are seated, from left, a woman holding her baby, an older woman with her hands clasped atop a basket, and a young boy asleep.

Seated behind them are anonymous rows of women and men.

This version of The Third-Class Carriage, now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, appears to be closely related to an 1864 watercolor now in the Walters Art Museum.

The painting is unfinished, and is squared for transfer.

A similar painting by Daumier with the same title is in the National Gallery of Canada.