Ernst Ferdinand Eichler (1850 Werdau - 1895 Zwickau), Shepherds Waiting for the Blessing in St. Peter's Square, Ernst Ferdinand Eichler (1850 Werdau - 1895 Zwickau), Shepherds Waiting for the Blessing in St. Peter's Square

120 x 65 cm

A trio of shepherds or farmers is depicted in the foreground in a moment of rest close to one of the columns of the famous St. Peter's Square, in the Vatican (Rome). The famous Bernini colonnade and the Obelisk are clearly visible on the left. The faces are pensive, and marked with fatigue after having probably faced a long pilgrimage to receive the Pope's blessing.
The choice of marginal characters, such as the poor, allows the painter to translate the episode into an image of everyday simplicity. Genre painting became a narration of the simplest events through the faces of the humblest people and places, thus obtaining in these decades a vast success with the public.
Signed lower right
120 x 65 cm
Oil on canvas