(Feldkirch 1664–1736 Milan)
A girl knitting and a woman feeding a child,
oil on canvas, 88.5 x 118.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Milan

We are grateful to Maria Silvia Proni for confirming the attribution and for cataloguing this lot.

In Giacomo Francesco Cipper’s paintings the subject of food finds a special place: his depiction of everyday scenes often show figures seated around a humble table laid with various kinds of ordinary, frugal food, loaves of bread of various shapes and assorted varieties of cheese.

On the rustic wooden table of the present composition, there is a round loaf of bread, similar to that in many other paintings by the artist, such as is seen – to choose from among many – in the Tavola imbandita con giovane coppia [Laid table with a young couple], Gastaldi - Rotelli collection, Milan (see M. S. Proni, Giacomo Francesco Cipper, in: Il cibo nell’arte, ed. by D. Dotti, exhibition catalogue, Brescia 2015, p. 118, no. 11), in the Card Players, private collection, Brescia (see F. Arisi, G. F. Cipper il ‘Todeschini e la pittura di genere, in: Arte lombarda, 49, 1978, p. 118, fig. 11) as well as in the Old spinner and card players in a private collection, Milan (see M. S. Proni, Giacomo Francesco Cipper, Soncino 1994, p. 50, no. 7), wherein the same piece of cheese also appears; however, the large, dark-coloured pan which is the focal point of the present composition is unique. Here, the woman at the centre has just charged her spoon from the dark pan and is shown intent on offering it to the boy before her.

The presence of the youth permits various readings of this picture: at first glance it may appear to be an ordinary and familiar genre scene, however, the boy’s open hand may indicate that he is a beggar who has approached the two women. Cipper’s ever assiduous attention to the everyday humility of ordinary people, evokes the sympathy of the moment through the depiction of the elder woman’s gesture, as she swiftly reacts to the child’s request, his hand extended, to share the stew she has made, displaying her manner of tender affection, evidenced by her arm around the hungry boy’s shoulder. The young woman on the left side of the scene looks out at the viewer initiating a play of glances between the onlooker and the observed in the painting, generating a dynamic of dependencies, all the while continuing working at her knitting, aware that she is observed.

It should be noted that in this composition, and in its pendant, A cobbler and a woman cutting a child’s hair, there are two figures, the cobbler and the woman knitting, who reoccur – although interpreted by different players – in the contemporary The Cobbler (also called Ciabattino e donna che lavora a maglia [Cobbler with a woman knitting]), in a private collection (see L. Tognoli, G. F. Cipper, il ‘Todeschini’, Bergamo 1976, p. 44, fig. 41). The repetition of familiar characters and scenes typical of genre painting, is redeemed here by the artist through his dense pictorial impasto and choice of palette, which in distinctive fashion deploys earth colours set to contrast with passages of bright vermilion, such as distinguish the young knitting woman’s sleeves in a manner reminiscent of examples by Eberhard Keilhau, but revised and updated to the latest Lombard taste for anecdotal representations.

For the chronological placement of the present painting, please refer to the catalogue entry for A cobbler and a woman cutting a child’s hair.