A Fresh, Sentimental Vision
In his monastery, Fra'Galgario had a studio where he welcomed young apprentices. One of them, nicknamed Cerighetto (which means "choirboy" in the Bergamask dialect) died at the age of 22 in the monastery, to which he also belonged. The painter made his young models pose as painters or sculptors. Faced with the Europe-wide success of his output, Fra'Galgario moved away from faithful representations to expressive, idealised, heads in genre-type scenes.
This tender and sentimental view of childhood was shared by many European painters. It is one of the expressions of a revival of interest in childhood, also illustrated in literature by the appearance of educational tracts and edifying stories.
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