PIAZZETTA, Giovanni Battista
(b. 1682, Venezia, d. 1754, Venezia)

Peasant Girl

1720-22
Oil on canvas, 66 x 83 cm
Residenzgalerie, Salzburg

The companion piece depicting a Shepherd Boy is also in the Residenzgalerie in Salzburg.

Piazzetta's unusual way of depicting the Peasant Girl and the Shepherd Boy is evidenced first of all by his choice of a transverse oval picture format. Only a partial view of the boy is given, and his face, which is aligned slightly rearwards, is partly covered by a large hat. In his frontal view of the sleeping girl, the artist underlined the intimate, lascivious character of the picture by giving her a low-cut dress.

The half-length paintings of the girl and boy are modelled on the half-length figures of Caravaggio. The artist was indebted to Crespi for the genre elements and the down-to-earth realism of the depictions as well as for its traditional rustic character.