Study of Spanish Peasants at Alcalá de Guadaíra. 1833

David Roberts made this watercolor, Study of Spanish Peasants at Alcalá de Guadaíra, in 1833. At this time, Spain was seen by British artists and writers as a land of romantic peasants and bandits, untouched by the modern world. But Roberts doesn't seem interested in that kind of romanticism. He made this image at a time when the Spanish monarchy had recently been restored, but was being challenged by liberals. We can understand Roberts’s focus on the peasantry as a reaction to this climate, in which different ideas of Spanish identity were being debated. Instead of portraying peasants as noble savages, Roberts shows them as ordinary people. We can see this as an example of how art reflects social change. If we look at the records of the time - newspapers, political pamphlets, and travel writing - we can understand more about the way Roberts positions himself within it.