La Piccola Guardiana

Details

Stefano Bruzzi (Italian, 1835-1911)
La Piccola Guardiana
signed 'SBruzzi' (lower left)
oil on canvas
50 ½ x 31 ¾ in. (128.2 x 80.7 cm.)
Painted circa 1885.

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Florence, 14 May 1981, lot 557.
Private collection, Italy.

Literature

L. Chirtani, `Due quadri di Stefano Bruzzi', in Natura e Arte, XVI, 1895, p. 66.
F. Giarelli, `Il primo pittore italiano dll'egloga: Stefano Bruzzi', in Natura e Arte, XIII, no. 3, January 1904, pp. 149-156.
L. Ozzola, `Stefano Bruzzi', in Vita d'Arte, Siena, II, vol. IV, July 1909, no. 19, p. 331.
C. Giarelli, Il Virgilio della tavolozza, Parma, 1911, pp. 2 and 12.
L. Pelandi, `In memoriam: Stefano Bruzzi', in Emporium, February 1911, p. 165.
A. Pettorelli, `Considerazioni sull'arte di Stefano Bruzzi', in Bollettino storico piacentino, IV, 1911, p. 57.
F. Sapori, Stefano Bruzzi pittore, Turin, 1919, no. 12 (illustrated).
M. Brega, `La Pittura dell'800 e Stefano Bruzzi', in Rivista di Piacenza, 1937, no. 5, p. 242.
F. Arisi and A. Baboni eds., Stefano Bruzzi 1835-1911: Catalogo Ragionato, Piacenza, 2000, p. 318, no. 192; as: Che c'e' or La Piccola Guardiana (illustrated p. 321).

Exhibited

Piacenza, Galleria d’arte “Il Gotico”, Stefano Bruzzi. Studi sul vero, April-May 1982.
Bergamo, Mostra di "Emporium" dell’istituto italiano d’arti grafiche, 1895-1915, 1985.
Milan, Societa' per le Belle Arti ed Esposizione Permanente, Palazzo Sociale, 1886-1896: La Permanente: un secolo d'arte a Milano, , 9 June-14 September 1986, as: `Cosa c'e'?'.

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Clare Keiller

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Lot Essay

Stefano Bruzzi started his career in Piacenza as a pupil of Bernardino Massari. At the age of nineteen he was sent to Rome by his father to carry on his studies. In 1863 he moved with his family to Florence where he befriended the main exponents of the Macchiaioli movement, amongst whom was the leading figure Giovanni Fattori (see lot 34).
Bruzzi's oeuvre is directly inspired by nature and contains strong poetic pastoral themes, focusing on daily life and its humble realities.
The present painting, which has been engraved by Celestino Turletti, had immediate success. The art critic Luigi Chirtani considered the present work as the artist's masterpiece: “The grand lines almost resemble a monument... and the gentle expression of the group express a sense of curiosity and surprise”.

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