| The Italian Brigand's Wife |
Artist:Léon Cogniet (French, Paris 1794–1880 Paris)
Date:ca. 1825–26
Medium:Oil on canvas, mounted on wood
Dimensions:9 7/8 x 8 1/8 in. (25.1 x 20.6 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:The Whitney Collection, Promised Gift of Wheelock Whitney III, and Purchase, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. McVeigh, by exchange, 2003
Bands of brigands who populated the hills of southern Italy were steady fodder for the Romantic imagination, and their exploits were reported both factually and fancifully. In 1825–26 Cogniet painted three versions of this picturesque scene, in which the wife of a brigand examines a piece of silk just pillaged from unfortunate travelers. The first (private collection) was made for the amateur L. J. A. Coutan as a pendant for Mazzocchi, the portrait of an actual brigand chief by Cogniet’s late friend Achille-Etna Michallon; the second (private collection) was made for one Baron de Jassaud. Cogniet painted this version for himself, and he eventually acquired the painting by Michallon to accompany it.
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