Landscape with worker that carries something 

Giovanni Costa painted this landscape with a worker, but we don’t know when. The painting may offer a glimpse into the social and economic conditions of rural Italy during the 19th century. Costa’s landscapes often celebrated the Roman countryside, and the figure of the worker brings into focus questions of class and labor. We can imagine the ways the painting could have functioned in its original context. Was the image designed to bring the realities of rural labor to elite urban audiences? Or was it meant to ennoble the work of ordinary people? The ambiguity of the worker’s identity may open up a space for viewers to consider the social and economic forces that shaped the lives of rural laborers in Italy. Historians might research the economic conditions of rural Italy during this period, looking at agricultural practices, land ownership, and labor relations to better understand the painting's social context. Art history is about understanding the relationship between art and its world.