Study for Beasts of Burden

Patini depicts the misery of the peasants in the Abruzzo region of Italy where he was born. It is part of a group of studies, and is the second version of the same subject Patini painted one year earlier in 1886. The artist expresses the poor conditions of the rural population in southern Italy. The title sadly strikes a comparison between beasts of burden, and the relentless work of the poor.