Young italian shepherd
Pifferaro
Circa 1880.
Oil on canvas mounted on panel 69 X 55 cm, mounted in a golden frame a little broken and veiled 79 X 66 cm.
Originally painted in a simulated oval, probably on a rectangular canvas, a “restorer” preferred to cut it out and put it on a panel on the back of which appears an attribution to Jean-François Portaels, surprising but plausible, this artist having won the Prix de Rome (the Belgian!) and stayed in the Eternal City, but prior to the creation of this painting; I hope this is not the postponement of a signature which would have disappeared when cut! Provenance Outre-Quiévrain.
The Pifferari, Abruzzo shepherds with their characteristic traditional dress, came down to Rome in the off-season, where, for a few coins, they gave the albade in groups of two or three musicians at the foot of the countless statues of the Virgin that adorn Rome.
Their second activity being to serve as models for passing painters and photographers !
This young boy with a sweet physiognomy wears the classic costume, a shirt covered with a sheepskin waistcoat, a coat with a collar covering the whole thing, as well as the hat decorated with pompoms and a red ribbon.
Do not hesitate to ask us for photos or additional information by email or phone.

Related projects

Lady in the garden
Alexandre François Bonnardel 1867 – 1942 Oil on canvas 27 X 41 cm, mounted in a gilded frame (which reframes by hiding a good part of the

Max Jacob in an armchair
Pablo Picasso MAX JACOB IN THE ARMCHAIR 1916 1881 – 1973 Facsimile print on very thin and fragile paper 37.5 X 27.5 cm, in two tones,

Art Nouveau portrait 1919
Alice Guinepied 1880 – 1949 “Young woman with headband” oil on canvas 50 X 61 cm, signed and dated 1919, mounted in a period

The remparts of Mazagan
Adrien Henri Gillot Oil on canvas board 22 X 27 cm, signed, located and dated 1926, mounted in a gilt Regency style frame 38 X 43 cm. Painter and

The marsch at the Cap Ferret
René Beauclair, Ludovic Popineau dit 1877 – 1960 Oil on panel 32.5 X 41 cm, freshly cleaned and varnished, presented in a gilded frame 46.5

Self portrait in the workshop/Nativity in the circus
Raymond Dierickx 1904 – 1978 double-sided mixed technique on paper 95 X 100 cm presented under neutral pH mat 100 X 120 cm. A man in a

Paris under the snow in 1908
P. Bonis-Charancle Oil on re-used cardboard 70 X 42 cm, mounted in a molded oak frame 78 X 50 cm. Signed, located and dated 08 for 1908. Even if

A Touareg
Renée Hanin Oil on thin cardboard 75.5 X 47 cm, held by cardboard in a modern black frame with Africanist motifs 79 X 50 cm. Circa 1930.

Abstraction 1958
Ermanno Besozzi 1912 – 1986 Oil on canvas 70 X 80 cm. Born in Sesto Calende in Lombardy, he worked a lot in the nearby city of Milan, but