Lot 58
  • 58

GIACOMO CERUTI, CALLED PITOCCHETTO | A mother and her child milking a cow in a landscape, a group of peasants and animals beyond

Estimate
180,000 - 250,000 USD
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Description

  • Circle of Giacomo Ceruti called II Pitocchetto
  • A mother and her child milking a cow in a landscape, a group of peasants and animals beyond
  • oil on canvas
  • 48 3/8  by 35 5/8  in.; 122.9 by 90.4 cm.

Provenance

Private collection, Bergamo;
Rovida collection, Brescia;
Private collection, Brescia, by 1982;
Private collection, Switzerland;
With Alain Tarica, Geneva;
There acquired by the present collector in 1989. 

Literature

A. Morassi, "Giacomo Ceruti detto il 'Pitocchetto' pittore verista," in Pantheon, vol. XXV, September-October 1967, p. 357, reproduced pp. 363-4, figs. 21-22;
A. Boschetto, "I 'Coniugi Bonometti' del Ceruti, e qualche appunto sulla situazione" in Paragone, no. 219, May 1968, p. 61, under note 6;
F. Arisi, "Il 'Ritratto di condottiero' del Ceruti, cinque battaglie ed altro," in Memorie bresciane, 1981 vol. I, no. 1, p. 3, reproduced pp. 11, 12;
M. Gregori, Giacomo Ceruti, Milan 1982, p. 473, cat. no. 250, reproduced p. 404.

Condition

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work has been restored and should be hung in its current state. The canvas seems to be an Italian glue lining which is nicely stabilizing the paint layer. The stretcher is old. The varnish is quite opaque under ultraviolet light, making it difficult to identify retouches except for a few spots around the eye of the cow, in the mother's nose and a couple of dots in the top of the sky. However, under close examination, one can see careful but fairly broad retouches around the edges in the sky. There are also retouches in the white apron and other isolated spots here and there. The condition is otherwise very good.
"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

Although well known for his portraits, still-life and religious paintings, Ceruti is most celebrated as a painter of genre and low-life scenes, depicting his humble subjects with striking naturalism and unusual dignity.  Here the artist depicts a tender moment between mother and child as they sit together milking a cow.  

The painting has been dated by Dr. Mina Gregori (see literature) to the 1760's.  It belongs to a group of pastoral works which the artist completed towards the end of his career and which were influenced by a series of prints by Cornelis Bloemaert after Abraham Bloemaert.  The present painting relates specifically to the twelfth print in the series. A proposed pendant to present composition, depicting a young girl with a cow and a sheep in a rocky landscape, was previously in the Suida Manning collection and sold at Christie's London, 24 May 1991, lot 67 (fig. 1).