i think what's important here as you can see from the quotation is that john vanderlind says this is a way in the 1820s of making a living. the people in the provincial area are so eager for the goods that there is a fellow here moving through the countryside meeting demand. unlike an urban station where you have a painter in a studio where customers come to him, these are moving throughout the country side to find customers and passing out hand bills to attract customers. they are really cultivating a market where possibly a market didn't exist before. they really are advertising their services and advertising the whole mode of consumption of these colorful goods. i think that's really quite striking in this quote. because it's really a way of making your living in a more fluid society where the definition of what an artist might be is up for grabs without training or without apprenticeship. there is a whole contest as to who is an artist. i can easily claim as others i write about that i'm an artist. i put my statement out there and start painting literally. it is really the fluidi