The Beggar Boy (The Young Pilgrim) (1738–39): Artwork and History

The Beggar Boy (The Young Pilgrim) (1738–39) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (Italian, 1682–1754).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Art historians long identified the subject of this painting as a beggar boy; however, it is now believed to portray the artist’s oldest child, Giacomo (the Italian form of James), in the costume of a pilgrim bound for Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where the apostle James reputedly settled. Carrying a loaf of bread and a rosary, Giacomo sports the hat and staff of a Santiago pilgrim. The boy would have been 13 years old in 1738, when this work was likely painted. It therefore probably shows him setting out on the pilgrimage of life, under the protection of his patron saint.

Object facts

• Title: The Beggar Boy (The Young Pilgrim)
• Date: 1738–39
• Artist attribution: Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (Italian, 1682–1754)
• Place of origin: Italy
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 67.7 × 54.7 cm (26 5/8 × 21 1/2 in.)
• Type: Painting
• Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
• Reference number: 1930.747

Collection credit

Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.