The Laboring Italian Women

Art Historical Context

Created in 1765, *The Laboring Italian Women* is an engraving by Jacques Aliamet after a composition by the celebrated French landscape painter Joseph Vernet. This print, issued in the third state of three, exemplifies the collaborative relationship between painters and printmakers during the eighteenth century, when engravings played a vital role in circulating images of contemporary life and foreign locales to a wide European audience. Vernet was renowned for his atmospheric depictions of the Italian countryside and coastal scenes, and Aliamet’s precise engraving technique translates the original’s tonal subtleties into crisp lines and delicate shading. Measuring roughly 13½ by 17 inches, the sheet would have been affordable enough for collectors and travelers, helping to popularize romanticized views of Italian rural labor. Acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art through the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund in 1953, the work now resides in the Department of Drawings and Prints, where it offers visitors a window into both the artistic commerce of the period and the enduring appeal of Vernet’s picturesque vision.