At the village fountain in the Italian mountains 1853

Heinrich Bürkel painted this scene of an Italian mountain village, with oil on canvas, sometime in the first half of the 19th century. Here, Bürkel romanticizes the daily lives of rural Italians, focusing on the picturesque qualities of their traditional clothing and the natural beauty of the landscape. Through the fountain and the church, we can see that life here is centered on the basic resources of water and faith. The clothing also helps us understand social distinctions and divisions of labor in this rural community. The monks on the road are figures who mediate between the village and the outside world, while the women clustered at the well represent the domestic sphere. Even the animals depicted here - the goats, the pigeons, the donkeys - all have their roles to play. Studying travelogues, fashion plates, and religious tracts from this time can help us to better understand the social and cultural context of this painting. The meaning of art is always contingent on its context.