The peddler (1st version) 1872

Gerolamo Induno painted "The Peddler" in Italy at some point in the mid-19th century. It shows a street scene with a merchant weighed down by his wares and a young girl trying to sell twigs. The image is rich in visual codes of social class. The figures' clothing is tattered and worn, and the urban landscape is shown with a harsh realism that reflected the social and economic changes in Italy at the time. Induno was a painter of the Risorgimento, the movement for Italian unification and independence, and so his art often touches on themes of social justice and patriotism. We might ask, what is the relationship between art and social change? Was Induno's painting meant to critique or support existing social structures? These are the sorts of questions that art historians ask by researching not only the life of the artist but also the specific cultural, social, and institutional contexts in which they lived. Through careful attention to social context, we can begin to understand art as a powerful form of social commentary.