Giacomo Ceruti

Giacomo Ceruti painted beggars, pilgrims, old people and craftsmen with dignity and without sentiment. His figures are individuals, not types, and they look straight at you. His nickname was il Pitocchetto, “the little beggar”, after these subjects.

He was born in Milan in 1698 and grew up in Brescia, where he painted many of his best genre pictures in the 1720s and 1730s. He also worked in Gandino, Venice, Piacenza and Tortona, and later returned to Milan, where he died in 1767. His palette brightened after his time in Venice. About fifty of his genre paintings survive from 1725 to 1740. He also painted portraits, still lifes and religious scenes. The Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia, the Brera in Milan and the Metropolitan Museum hold his work.

In Boy with a Basket, look at the face: it is observed with care and treated with respect.