Gaetano clerics

Gaetano Chierici, Maternal joys, circa 1900

oil on canvas, 45 x 55.4 cm

signed on the left in the center "Chierici G."

In the scenes of family life, the artist deliberately keeps himself outside the codified laws of genre painting. It mostly portrays mothers and children, a few pets, a few flowers and vegetables, chosen on the basis of their shapes and colors. Gioie Materne - of which three versions are known - also belongs to this extremely rich and fortunate production, an extraordinary example of simplicity, truthfulness, authentic poetry composed and recited with light, delicate and elegant accents. A synthetic and dazzling image, capable of seducing the public with its excellent quality and with the immediate perception of its own vitality. A young mother is portrayed as she tenderly smiles at her baby who has just awakened from sleep. The scene is also attended by the eldest daughter, a cat and her two small puppies: interpreters of an innocent and carefree humanity, which the artist studies and caresses, even emphasizes in the expressions to obtain the best color effects, and finally captures with virtuous touches of paintbrush on the canvas. Virtuosity that we also find in the rendering of objects (crumbling walls, chipped tiles, greasy and dusty supplies, etc.) bathed in the warm light that illuminates the domestic interior.

Stefano Bosi

The work is exhibited at Palazzo Martinengo Cesaresco in Brescia as part of the exhibition Women in art from Titian to Boldini.