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Date : between 1738 and 1739
Material : Oil on canvas
Acquisition : Charles H. and Mary F.S. Worcester Fund (1930)
| The Young Pilgrim
Item 14 on 21
European Painting
Painting
Area related
Italy
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| Description |  |
The subject of this painting was long identified simply as a beggar boy, but it is now believed to portray the artist's oldest child, Giacomo (James) in the costume of a pilgrim bound for Santiago de Compostela in Spain, where the Apostle James reputedly ended his life. Giacomo holds a rosary in his right hand, carries a loaf of bread, and sports the hat and staff of a Santiago pilgrim. The boy was named after Piazzetta's late father; in 1738 he was thirteen years old. He is therefore shown to be setting out on the pilgrimage of life, under the protection of St. James, his patron saint, and that of his grandfather.
Note that the boy's clothing was cut from the same materials as those of his mother, portrayed in Piazzetta's "Pastoral Scene" nearby. Piazzetta's treatment of this psychological subject betrays the influence of Rembrandt, whose prints became available in Venice early in the eighteenth century. Comparable works by Rembrandt are exhibited in Gallery 216.
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