Getty Museum
A Boy Holding a Pear (Giacomo Piazzetta?)
Creator
Giovanni Battista PiazzettaItalian Artist · 1682–1754
All works by this person →Giovanni Battista Piazzetta "did not care greatly for honors and neither for his own interest. He lived in love with his art," wrote his publisher. Piazzetta established himself by creating art utterly different from that of his Venetian contemporaries. Instead of spontaneous improvisation, intense color palettes, and decorative effects--often in the popular fresco medium--Piazzetta worked slowly
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1737
- Medium
- Black and white chalk, on blue-gray paper (two joined sheets)
- Culture
- Italian
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
A chubby-faced young boy stares out at us, as he holds up a small pear in his left hand. The youth is probably the artist's son Giacomo Piazzetta, drawn when he was about ten or eleven years old. He wears a dark cap decorated with a feather on his head, while an elaborately patterned vest covers a white shirt with wide, billowing sleeves and a lacy collar. This captivating drawing shows Giovanni Battista Piazzetta's skill at capturing both his son's character and the different fabrics he wears. Softly smudged lines of dark hatching suggest the boy's rounded, fleshy cheeks, while touches of white chalk give shiny highlights to his nose, eyes, and chin. Piazzetta also managed to indicate the shimmering, silky texture of the boy's sleeve in contrast to the dark and velvety texture of his hat.
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