My wife is doing research, and noticed something in a lot of the paintings and prints she's looking at. There are these club-like sticks, almost like croquet mallets, on the ground. If you look at this page, almost every image has them in it. My wife's theory is that it must have something to do with graves (e.g. how they were dug). Can anyone here fill me in on what they are, and what the significance of them is?
They appear to be crutches, belonging to the aged men in each of the prints. The style would not be uncommon for crutches of the time. Jacques Callot did a series of beggars that included similar crutches.
