Glasverkoper 1660

Giuseppe Maria Mitelli created this print of a glass seller, in Italy, sometime around the 17th century. It captures a moment in the bustling street life of the period, but it also reveals much about the hierarchies of labor and commerce in that society. Note the seller’s dress, the precariousness of his wares. Mitelli made this print, like so many others, for a burgeoning market in affordable images. Consider how such prints functioned within the visual culture of the time. They were both a form of entertainment and a means of circulating social commentary. Does Mitelli’s glass seller offer a critique of the economic precarity of the working class? Perhaps his image is part of a broader commentary on the changing nature of work and trade in early modern Europe. To understand this print better, we might look to archival sources, such as trade records, or sociological studies of street vending in 17th-century Italy. By placing the artwork in its historical context, we can gain a richer appreciation of its social and cultural significance.