Setting by Pieter Van Laer, 17th century, Almsgiving scene

Scope of Pieter Van Laer, 17th century

Begging scene

Oil on canvas, 68 x 70 cm

Documented in Rome from 1625 to 1638, Pieter Van Laer is one of the young Flemish, Dutch and German painters who flocked to the capital to specialize in pictorial art. Van Laer, in fact, attempted to merge the profound humanity of Caravaggio with the realism of the Nordic tradition, adopting a simpler and drier tone compared to the descriptive and caricatural results of the other bamboccianti.

Born in Haarlem in 1592, Bamboccio was the nickname they gave him in Rome, perhaps due to his round face, colored by frequenting the taverns. He was recognized as the first to initiate a pictorial trend that emphasized real-life episodes.

His works, characterized by small dimensions and an anecdotal spirit, were called bambocciate. The author, starting from Caravaggio's models, created works characterized by narrative and sketch realism. His best-known follower was Michelangelo Cerquozzi. Returning to Holland, after a stay in Amsterdam, he retired to Haarlem.

The genre scene represents a character of bourgeois extraction in the act of giving alms to two beggars with his right hand while with his left hand he shows the image of the Virgin to a woman and her child. Probably, given the time, the episode was inspired by the actions of San Filippo Neri. Of Tuscan origin, he lived in Rome at the end of the 500th century and founded the Congregation of the Oratorians. He especially cared for children, widows and the poor in times of famine. The setting sees some ruins from the Roman era now incorporated by vegetation and a piece of landscape in the background. The dog in the lower right corner is inevitable, a recurring stylistic feature of the author. In the paintings of the current there was never any intent of criticism or social protest while there was instead a more or less hidden mockery of popular customs.

Some stylistic comparisons can be made on the painting preserved at the Superintendence of Parma and Piacenza, depicting a mother with child in the Roman countryside (see the comparison with our praying child), the one belonging to a noble collection in Monaco representing a seated beggar in the shadow of Roman remains and with other works that appeared on the antiques market. Among the characteristics in common with the present paintings of certain origins, mention must be made of the material-like brushstroke, the lively naturalism and the taste for dramatic chiaroscuro.

The object is in good condition

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