CERUTI, Giacomo
(b. 1698, Milano, d. 1767, Milano)

Encounter in the Wood

1720s
Oil on canvas, 155 x 188 cm
Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Brescia

This painting belongs to the Padernello cycle (a series of about twelve paintings executed for the castle of Padernello). It represents an old man and a girl at the edge of a penumbral wood. The man, seated on a rock and wearily supported himself on a long stick, is probably a war veteran, now fallen into the most dire straits. The young girl is mysteriously faceless and without an identity, she is reduced to a jumble of rags.