Pietro Bellotti (1627 - 1700), Portrait of a Farmer with Beans

Against a dark background, in Chiaro Scuro fashion, the hip of an old man dressed in country clothes stands out. He is holding a bowl of beans in his left hand and a spoon of beans in his right. Two stylistically related comparative examples that Succi cites are particularly striking: “Filosofo con libro e berretta” in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, in Bologna, and “Anziano con scaldino” in a private collection (Moretto, Savoldo, Romanino, Ceruti) Cento capolavori delle collezioni bresciane, (ed.) Davide Dotti, Milan, 2013, no. 87.Succi assumes that the painting may have been made during Bellotti's Milanese period (1670-74), Oil on canvas. Doubled., 91.2 x 69 cm