An Old Man with a Dog
Artist: Giacomo Ceruti (Italian, 1698–1767)
Original Dimensions: 25 9/16" x 17 11/16"
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
About Artwork: (1740s) "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." - (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

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