Gaetano Chierici

Private Collector, United States (by 1926)
Thence by descent

Milan, Seconda Esposizione Nazionale di Belle Arti, 1872 (illustrated)

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This charming painting has been recently restored and should be hung as is. The canvas has been lined, cleaned and retouched. The condition is particularly fresh and good with no abrasion to the paint layer or any discoloration or weakness. There is a break in the canvas and associated restorations in the upper center, running diagonally from the center of the top edge to the circular basket hung on the wall. In the upper left corner there are restorations around the edge of the picture and another running diagonally across the corner about four inches from the corner itself. There are also a few retouches in the wine jug on the far left on the cabinet. There are no other restorations and the losses are isolated and well-restored.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Chierici was among the most celebrated Italian genre painters of the nineteenth century and La Pappa is a perfect example of his images of children at play. He was the master of capturing the fleeting expression, usually happiness or surprise, and of attention to detail. Often, as in the present work, the setting for his paintings was the farmhouse kitchen and its contents, a choice no doubt influenced by his own experiences growing up in a poor family. Like J.G. Brown in America, he liked to show that happiness was not dependent on material wealth, depicting humble children as cheerful, healthy, and delighting in life.

Born in Reggio, Chierici began his formal training at the Academies of Reggio and Bologna. In 1858 he moved to Florence, where he enrolled at the Academy's scuola del nudo to develop his skills at painting the nude. The sophisticated modeling of the children's faces and their life-like poses in his genre paintings can be attributed to the thorough training he received there. Chierici went on to become internationally recognized during his own lifetime, exhibiting outside of Italy at the Royal Academy in London from 1877 to 1881, as well as in Boston and Washington, D.C.; the Corcoran owned several works by the artist in the early part of this century.