Plate 16: four street vendors from Madrid selling onions, beans, chairs, and crockery, from 'Los Gritos de Madrid' (The Cries of Madrid) 1809 - 1817

Miguel Gamborino created this print, Plate 16 from ‘Los Gritos de Madrid’ (The Cries of Madrid), around the turn of the nineteenth century. It depicts four street vendors and offers a glimpse into the vibrant, yet often unseen, underbelly of Spanish society. The print isn’t just a record of working-class lives. It’s a window into the economic structures of the time, in which the vendors sell onions, beans, chairs, and crockery. These weren't goods sold in grand emporiums, but rather peddled on the streets, suggesting an informal economy that existed parallel to the more established mercantile systems. It is interesting to note the dress of the characters and consider how the image portrays the dignity of the vendors. Do these figures embrace or resist the social structures of their time? As art historians, we look to sources, from trade records to popular literature, to reconstruct the world of the artwork and reflect on the meaning of art as contingent on the social and institutional context.