{"product_id":"antique-italian-oil-painting-woman-baby-church-1880","title":"Antique Italian Oil Painting Woman and Baby in Church, Circa 1880","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eShe stands on the church steps with the baby gathered against her shoulder, eyes lowered, in the full traditional dress of the Roman Campagna: the white folded headcloth, laced bodice over a red-sleeved chemise, dark skirt, and red stockings. She is a ciociara, the young woman in the costume of the countryside south of Rome, one of the most sought-after subjects in 19th-century Roman painting. A mother carrying a swaddled infant onto church steps carries an old resonance, the presentation and blessing of a child, echoing the Madonna and Child in the guise of everyday peasant life. Behind her a Cosmatesque altar glows with inlaid marble and a heraldic shield, twisted columns rise on either side, and a brass votive lamp hangs on its chain overhead. A Latin inscription is painted into the stone at lower right, in the martyrological language of the Roman church. This is an unusually ambitious example of the type, large in scale and worked fully from the architecture down to the shadow crossing the marble floor, with a Brussels framer's label on the reverse.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[d]Artist | Italian School, unidentified\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[d]Signature | None. The Latin lapidary lettering on the stone at lower right is painted decoration within the depicted church interior, not a signature. It is written in the manner of a Roman church memorial inscription and carries the phrase \"in Sabinis,\" referring to the Sabine hills northeast of Rome, a region long associated with early Christian saints.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[d]Medium | Oil on canvas\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[d]Subject | A ciociara, a young woman in traditional Roman Campagna dress, holding an infant on the steps of a church interior, before a Cosmatesque altar with a hanging votive lamp\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[d]Origin | Italian School\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[d]Age | Circa 1880, late 19th century\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[d]Canvas Size | 14 in. W x 26.5 in. H\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[d]Frame Size | 19 in. W x 31 in. H\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[d]Format | Vertical, full-length single figure\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[d]Frame | Period giltwood with egg-and-dart and beaded ornament, appears original to the work\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[d]School or Movement | Italian academic genre painting. Through the 1860s to 1890s, painters trained in the Roman academies produced highly finished scenes of regional peasant life for foreign visitors and the export trade. The favourite subject was the ciociara, the woman in the traditional costume of the countryside south of Rome, often placed in a recognisably Roman architectural setting. This example uses a Cosmatesque interior, the inlaid marble decoration developed by Roman marble workers in the 12th and 13th centuries and found in the city's medieval churches, as its backdrop. The type combined rigorous academic figure training with the picturesque appeal of Italian costume and devotional life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[d]Support | Canvas, lined\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[d]Provenance | Bearing the label of Encadrements C. Artiges \u0026amp; Fils, 10 Rue Gray, Brussels, on the reverse, documenting framing or restoration in Belgium\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e[condition]\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eThe painting presents well overall, with a warm, readable surface and strong presence at scale. Fine craquelure is visible across the surface, consistent with age, most apparent in the lighter passages of the headcloth and the pale draped cloth the woman carries. The canvas is lined, which has stabilized it against further age-related movement. The face, hands, and costume retain good detail and modeling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eI have not cleaned or tested the surface, and I am not making a claim about varnish state or earlier retouch either way. What I can say from close examination is what is described here. The gilt frame is a period profile with the expected minor rubbing and small losses to the high points of the ornament, more visible at the corners, in keeping with age and honest wear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003ePlease review all photographs closely, as they form part of this description.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Austyn Marie Design","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51482654900502,"sku":"AMD-03445","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0896\/4623\/5926\/files\/Belgium_France_Inventory_Continued-9534.jpg?v=1785429750","url":"https:\/\/austynmariedesign.com\/products\/antique-italian-oil-painting-woman-baby-church-1880","provider":"Austyn Marie Design","version":"1.0","type":"link"}