Beggar Boy Painting
677 547 cm credit line charles h.
Beggar boy painting. The young beggar is often called the lice ridden boy because he is delousing himself. Art historian ellis waterhouse wrote of it as a touchstone by which we can interpret the whole of riberas art. This large oil painting shows two fashionably dressed children in a countryside setting encountering an older boy who is dressed in ragged clothes and visibly in distress. The beggar boy by murillo c1650 on december 31 st the painting of the day was the beggar known as the club foot by ribera.
It is housed in the musee du louvre in paris and was painted in naples. Murillos the young beggar also known as the louse ridden boy is the first known example of the artists overwhelmingly popular genre paintings featuring the street children of seville. Perhaps he had in mind a painting such as jusepe de riberas the boy with a club foot. It was influenced by the poverty of spanish children in the 17th century and followed the style of michelangelo merisi da caravaggio.
The painting was undoubtedly inspired by the rampant misery in the streets of seville during the golden age. The clubfoot is a 1642 oil on canvas painting by jusepe de ribera. Murillos painting focuses on an orphaned child and uses a complementary technique of light and. The well dressed girl leans forward to pass the boy a coin while a dog a well groomed spaniel presumably belonging to the wealthy children looks up.
Also known as the lice ridden boy due to the figure of a young boy delousing himself in the painting the young beggar is the first known depiction of a street urchin by murillo. It was a painting of a smiling boy despite his physical disability on his way to town to beg for food. Article murillo was known for his realistic paintings of all aspects of his daily life and this painting poignantly depicts a beggar boy sitting alone in a street corner destitute and forlorn. Commissioned by a flemish dealer the painting features a neapolitan beggar boy with a deformed foot.
The picture is the first known depiction of a street urchin in murillos work. Aug 4 2017 paintings of families parents with children and children from the broad regency period. See more ideas about portrait kids portraits art. Todays painting is also of a beggar but in this work of art we are not treated to the sight of a happy child.
Worcester collection reference number 1930747 extended information about this artwork. The young beggar depicts a barefoot young street urchin clad in torn patched up rags relaxing after what appears to have been a light lunch of shrimp and apples common fare for the poor at the time. It was painted in naples a few years before the poem was written and is explicitly a charity picture. European painting and sculpture gallery 217 artist giovanni battista piazzetta title the beggar boy the young pilgrim origin italy date 17381739 medium oil on canvas dimensions 26 58 21 12 in.