TitleOld Florentine Model
Artist
Edwin White
(1817 - 1877)
Daten.d.
MediumOil on canvas mounted on panel
DimensionsUnframed: 21 1/16 × 17 in.
SubmissionNA diploma exchange presentation (?)
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number1405-P
Label TextDuring his time in Florence, Italy in 1854, White painted this oil study of a man posed in the common attire of a pifferari. These peasants, originally shepherds from the mountain regions of Calabria and Lazio, typically traveled to Naples, Rome and other large cities during the nine day pre-Christmas period of the novena. In exchange for coins they would play their instruments, the zampogna (bagpipes) and piffero (a kind of oboe), before street and household shrines dedicated to the Madonna. During the course of the 19th century many artists from Italy and around the world depicted the pifferari, who were viewed as picturesque troubadours whose wandering ways remained unchanged by modern life. The pifferari typically dressed in large woolen coats (worn as a cape) and pointed hats.
