A baker on horseback, from a group of drawings depicting Peruvian dress 1843 - 1853

Francisco Fierro made this watercolor drawing of a baker on horseback in 19th century Peru. It's painted with loose, confident strokes on paper, a common enough material. But notice how Fierro uses it to capture not a grand historical subject, but a scene of everyday life, the labor of a baker doing deliveries. The boxes strapped to the donkey are rough and ready, almost like a portable shop front. They're even painted with an anchor, perhaps as an advertisement. The artist has paid close attention to the man's clothes. They denote his social class; not rich, but certainly not destitute either. It seems Fierro really understood that clothing, like any form of material culture, can tell us a lot about a person. This work, so modest in its materials, opens a window onto the social fabric of its time. It reminds us that even the simplest images can be powerful tools for understanding the world around us.