Mariano Fortuny Marsal painted this view of Roman ruins, using oil paint on canvas, a well-established fine art tradition. The painting’s material qualities invite a consideration of its social context. Look at how Fortuny uses brushstrokes to evoke the weathered texture and warm color of ancient stone, contrasting it with the soft rendering of the figures and landscape. These techniques highlight the amount of labor involved in creating both the artwork and the Roman ruins themselves. While Fortuny's brushstrokes capture a sense of decay and the passage of time, they also remind us of the skilled labor that shaped the artwork’s stones in the first place, and the painters craft. The painting invites us to consider the ruins not just as aesthetic objects, but as products of human effort and social organization. Paying attention to materials, making, and context allows us to appreciate the full meaning of Fortuny's Roman ruins, challenging the traditional hierarchy between fine art and craft.