Nursing peasant

Eberhard Keilhau is the real name of this painter, who was born in Denmark, specifically in Elsinore, the place of the legendary castle of Prince Hamlet. After coming to and remaining in Italy for some time at Rembrandt's workshop, Monsù Bernardo made long trips to the peninsula, living for example in Venice, Ravenna and Ferrara, and especially in Rome, where his stay had profound artistic resonance. He is one of the most interesting proponents of the so-called genre painting. Inspired partly by Caravaggio and partly by the Bamboccianti school, which loved to paint popular scenes of papal Rome, he spent most of his non-religious work portraying ordinary people, caught in the normal moments of life. In this context, for example, we admire a woman holding her baby in her lap while the baby suckles greedily from her breasts. At the same time, a man appears from the left, dressed in bright red and carrying a tablet with some items, perhaps jars for perfume or medicine, which he obviously offers for sale. The whole scene is extremely moving and pleasant, both for the richness of the colors, and for the spontaneity of the stroke that portrays the almost astonished faces of the characters, intent on productively completing their day.