CIPPER, Giacomo Francesco

(b. 1664 Feldkirch, d. 1736 Milano)

Austrian painter, called Il Todeschini, active in Lombardy in the first half of the 18th century. He was a prolific painter of Caravaggesque genre scenes, influenced by Antonio Cifrondi, and by the Danish painter Bernhard Keil (Monsù Bernardo), who was active in Lombardy in the mid-seventeenth century. He lived in Brescia during the same period as Ceruti, under whose influence his style changed, and he became an important representative of the naturalist movement appearing in Italy in the first decades of the 18th century.

His last known work is a Self-Portrait (1736, Hampton Court).

Palmistry

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Peasant Repast with a Young Beggar

The composition is centred around a table laid with a large loaf of bread, a generous piece of cheese, some fish, and fruit. The still-life is contained within an oval defined by the hands of the dining companion. The young couple generously invite us to partake in the meal, one offering a carafe of wine, the other an appetizing plum.

Cipper painted several replicas of this scene with minimal changes.

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The Cobbler

Cipper often depicted artisans at work, tradesmen, and various genre scenes. The present canvas and its companion piece, The Spinners (also in the Hermitage), are characteristic of the artist.

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