Art Institute of Chicago
The Beggar Boy (The Young Pilgrim)
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (Italian, 1682–1754)
- Date
- 1738–39
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Culture
- Italy
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
Art historians long identified the subject of this painting as a beggar boy; however, it is now believed to portray the artist’s oldest child, Giacomo (the Italian form of James), in the costume of a pilgrim bound for Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where the apostle James reputedly settled. Carrying a loaf of bread and a rosary, Giacomo sports the hat and staff of a Santiago pilgrim. The boy would have been 13 years old in 1738, when this work was likely painted. It therefore probably shows him setting out on the pilgrimage of life, under the protection of his patron saint.
The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Art Institute of Chicago and other institutions.
Old Beggar Carrying Child
Art Institute of Chicago
Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist, Saint Cecilia, and Angels
Art Institute of Chicago
Christ Appearing to Saint James the Greater
Getty Museum
Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist
Art Institute of Chicago
Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist
Art Institute of Chicago
Infant
Getty Museum
The Story of Joseph
Getty Museum
Reclining Youth
Getty Museum
Jacob's Farewell to Benjamin
Art Institute of Chicago
Madonna and Child with a Male Saint, Catherine of Alexandria and a Donor
Getty Museum
Study for Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph (recto); Sketches: Saint Christopher; Two Figures in Conversation over Money (verso)
Art Institute of Chicago
The Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John
Minneapolis Institute of Art