- 22
Gaetano Chierici
Description
- Gaetano Chierici
- Joys of Childhood
- signed Chierici Gaetano and dated 1878 (lower left)
- oil on canvas
- 27 1/2 by 20 1/2 in.
- 69.9 by 52 cm
Provenance
Private collector, United States (acquired directly from the artist's studio)
Thence by descent to the present owner
Condition
"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."
Catalogue Note
Chierici was among the most celebrated Italian genre painters of the nineteenth century and Joys of Childhood 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.
Variations of this composition have been referred to as Warming Dolly's Hands (see Sotheby's, New York, October 17, 1991, lot 60).