The Italian Brigand's Wife
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| The Italian Brigand's Wife | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Léon Cogniet |
| Year | 1825–26 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, genre painting |
| Dimensions | 25.1 cm × 20.6 cm (9.9 in × 8.1 in) |
| Location | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
The Italian Brigand's Wife is an oil on canvas genre painting by the French artist Léon Cogniet, from 1826.[1]
It depicts the wife of a brigand in the hills of Southern Italy, examining the plundered goods of a traveller including a length of silk which she holds up for inspection. Depictions of Italian outlaws were a common theme in romantic art of the era. Cogniet produced it as a pendant piece for a painting by his friend Achille-Etna Michallon depicting a brigand chief.[2]
Cogniet produced three versions of the painting during 1825 to 1826, possibly anticipating exhibiting one at the Salon of 1827. One of them is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.[3]
