​The painting is an homage for Mark Antokolsky first independent work: wood carving  sculpture titled "Jewish Tailor", 1864.
The emaciated and worried tailor leans out of the window in worn clothes to thread a thread in the last light. In his works, Antokolsky depicted the impoverished Jews of Tsarist Russia, in an attempt to arouse the pity of the viewers. He expressed the fears of Jews in Russia, where sudden arrest is an everyday occurrence, and his belief that assimilation will not save Jews from persecution.