An Old Man with a Dog

Giacomo Ceruti

1740s · Oil on canvas · European Paintings

An aging man holds his pug up to his face, much as we might pose for a photograph with a favorite pet. Ceruti’s penchant for depicting people in society’s margins earned him the nickname of “Pitochetto” (little beggar). Then, upon moving to Venice in 1736, he encountered the pan-European fascination with foreign dress that seems to be alluded to here in the acorn-shaped buttons on his coat. While eliminating much of the grit found in his earlier subjects, he nonetheless reliably recorded the expressive and sentimental particulars of individual faces. Ceruti adds an artistic flourish by inscribing the swirls of the man’s beard with the wet paint on the handle end of his brush.

Artist

Giacomo Ceruti

Date

1740s

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Gift of Fabrizio Moretti, in honor of Keith Christiansen, and in celebration of the Museum's 150th Anniversary, 2019