The Chiarrucia 1848

Alexandre Cabanel painted "The Chiarrucia," measuring 97 by 78 centimeters, sometime in the mid-19th century. The artwork encapsulates the Romantic era's fascination with exoticism. Cabanel, a leading academic painter in France, often depicted idealized figures in historical or mythological settings. Here he presents us with an image of a young Italian woman that is consistent with the idea of Italy as an Arcadia, a land of natural beauty and simplicity. The woman's traditional clothing and the picturesque landscape in the background enhance this impression. The fact that she is named a "chiarrucia", referring to women of the lower classes who carried water jugs on their heads in Italy, turns the image into a study of the peasantry, an ethnographic glimpse into the lives of the labouring classes. To truly understand this painting, we need to delve deeper into the cultural context of 19th-century France. Art historians consult travel literature, fashion plates, and records of artistic production and patronage to better understand the nuances of these kinds of images.