3-034-594 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Field Labourers - A Recollection of Italy", by A. Hennebicq, in the International Exhibition, 1871. Engraving of a painting. '... persons who have travelled in Italy...will recall having seen long strings of able-bodied, sturdy fellows in their picturesque undress, some of them possessing the air of nature's true nobility, and handsome enough to serve as sculptors' models, turning up a few clods at about the rate that half their number of English labourers or one quarter their number of navvies would dig over the same ground, to say nothing of the infinitely greater celerity of our steam-ploughs...You won't find an Italian wasting his physical energies; these labourers, you may be sure, are as careful not to overtax their muscles as a gang of our pauper scavengers or stone-breakers...it is amusing to watch how leisurely a string of fellows like this will proceed - so leisurely, with so many rests and pauses for a...chat, or a glance round to see if the padrone is in sight. The implement with which they delve looks as though it were expressly designed to do the smallest amount of work with the least possible exertion? Look how narrow is the blade, what a leverage the long handle affords, and what a convenient peg there is for the foot.' From "Illustrated London News", 1871.