Catalogue No. 2

Artist: Pitocchi, Matteo Dei, Attributed To
2/5 Scenes of Mendicancy and Almsgiving

1650-c.1700
Oil on Canvas 28. 3/4 x 41 ins

Collection Details
Bought by C.C. Menzies at Christie's sale, 4th March 1938 (Lot 127): acquired by the 2nd Lord Faringdon at Christie’s sale of the contents of Bampton Grange, Oxon, 5th June 1941 (Lot 339).

Literature
These five paintings do not strictly speaking form a set. They would seem to be two pairs and one alone, although the subjects are all related and may represent five of the seven acts of charity. Matteo dei Pitocchi worked mainly in the Veneto as a genre painter, and from what little is known of his work, he seems to have painted mainly scenes of poverty and destitution.