The Cheerful Beggars - Matteo Ghidoni (florence 1626-padua 1700)

The cheerful beggars
Matteo Ghidoni (Florence 1626-Padua 1700)
Oil painting on canvas
Gilded wooden frame, richly carved
Canvas measures 60 x 72, frame 91 x 103
The work is in excellent condition.

The canvas, in addition to being very pleasant, is truly interesting and amazes with how much joyful light-heartedness this gang of characters dressed in rags manages to spread.
Among the countless tasty animated scenes with characters of peasant extraction described by the famous Flemish masters and the Italian "Bamboccianti", rare if not impossible to find is the depiction of a group of beggars.
the Author, instead of capturing the typical rural but still dignified context, proposes an unusual scene, where the protagonists are evidently beggars who meet in the evening in front of the fire to celebrate the fruit of their begging.
The vigorous brushstrokes and bright colors with very pronounced chiaroscuro create a pleasant effect of movement and three-dimensionality.
The fire, fed by the child with the bellows, illuminates all the figures from the front, which clearly stand out from the dark background of the room.
The work, which at first glance might seem Flemish, is actually attributable to the very Italian hand of Matteo Ghidoni known as Matteo dei Pitocchi, a talented exponent of the "Bamboccianti" pictorial movement. In fact, the stylistic characteristics of the figures and especially of the little dog with its strongly Italianizing features, lead us directly to his characteristic production.
The painting strikes the viewer with the liveliness of the composition, which despite its crude reality, transmits a joyful message.