Bambocciata
(Rome 1602 - 1660)
This painting is a bambocciata, a depiction of a scene of everyday life typical of the production of Michelangelo Cerquozzi, who together with Jan Miel and Michael Sweerts is considered one of the main representatives of this genre of painting deriving from Flanders. The term comes from the nickname given to the Dutch painter Pieter van Laer, who was called ‘Bamboccio’ (‘chubby boy’) for his youthful appearance. Van Laer specialised in small-format works that portray aspects of popular life, which he rendered by means of realist narrative ‘vignettes’ – these are in fact called bambocciate.
This work is consistent with others by the Roman painter. It depicts a group of peasants immersed in the verdant Roman countryside as they pursue their work. In the foreground, a woman – perhaps a fortune-teller – is listening attentively to a man seated in front of her, while a tender young boy observes her from behind. The scene is enriched by a dog and bunches of grapes, figs and a pomegranate on the ground.
Object details
Inventory
Location
Date
Classification
Period
Medium
Oil on canvas glued onto panel
Dimensions
Frame
19th-century frame, 66 x 84.7 x 5 cm
Provenance
(?) Rome, collection of Cardinal Gregorio Salviati, 1782-1789 (Inventory Salviati, 1782-1789, nos. 23-24; Della Pergola 1959); Inventario Fidecommissario Borghese 1833, p. 28. Purchased by Italian state, 1902.
Exhibitions
- 1985 Roma, Palazzo Venezia.
Conservation and Diagnostic
- 1903-1905 Luigi Bartolucci;
- 1966 Alvaro Esposti.
Commentary
In the view of Paola della Pergola (1959), this painting came from the collection of Cardinal Gregorio Salviati, together with its pendant (inv. no. 249). It entered the Borghese Collection in the 18th century and in fact appears in the 1833 Inventario Fidecommissario, where it is listed as a work by an unknown artist. In contrast to the other painting, all critics – beginning with Xavier Barbier de Montault (1870) – have agreed on the attribution of this panel to Michelangelo Cerquozzi (Venturi 1893; Longhi 1928; Della Pergola 1959); regarding the other Bambocciata, de Montault proposed the name of Philips Wouwerman.
The work in question is indeed consistent with others by the Roman painter. It depicts a group of peasants immersed in the verdant Roman countryside as they pursue their work. In the foreground, a woman, perhaps a fortune-teller, is listening attentively to a man seated in front of her, while a tender young boy observes her from behind. The scene is enriched by a dog and bunches of grapes, figs and a pomegranate on the ground.
Antonio Iommelli
Bibliography
- X. Barbier de Montault, Les Musées et Galeries de Rome, Rome 1870, p. 357;
- G. Piancastelli, Catalogo dei quadri della Galleria Borghese, in Archivio Galleria Borghese, 1891, p. 453;
- A. Venturi, Il Museo e la Galleria Borghese, Roma 1893, p. 136;
- R. Longhi, Precisioni nelle Gallerie Italiane, I, La R. Galleria Borghese, Roma 1928, p. 200;
- P. della Pergola, La Galleria Borghese. I Dipinti, II, Roma 1959, p. 88, n. 123;
- C. Stefani, in P. Moreno, C. Stefani, Galleria Borghese, Milano 2000, p. 361;
- K. Herrmann Fiore, Galleria Borghese Roma scopre un tesoro. Dalla pinacoteca ai depositi un museo che non ha più segreti, San Giuliano Milanese 2006, p. 87.
