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Brigand and His Wife in Prayer

1824
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 806

The brigands who inhabited the mountains outside of Rome were known for both their criminal ways and their profound religious devotion. Here, a young couple prays at a roadside shrine—not only for the husband’s success but for the health of the wife, who is noticeably pregnant. Robert was one of a number of artists working in Rome, including Achille-Etna Michallon, François Joseph Navez, and Jean Victor Schnetz, who popularized such scenes in the 1820s. When Robert exhibited subjects like this one at the Salon of 1824, one critic noted that he had blurred the boundary between history and genre painting—but praised the naturalism of his figures.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Brigand and His Wife in Prayer
  • Artist: Léopold Robert (Swiss, Eplatures 1794–1835 Venice)
  • Date: 1824
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 17 5/8 x 14 3/8 in. (44.8 x 36.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: The Whitney Collection, Gift of Wheelock Whitney III, and Purchase, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. McVeigh, by exchange, 2003

  • Object Number: 2003.42.50
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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The Massacre of the Innocents, François Joseph Navez Belgian, Oil on canvas
The Massacre of the Innocents
François Joseph Navez
1824
The Dream of the Shepherd (Der Traum des Hirten), Ferdinand Hodler Swiss, Oil on canvas
The Dream of the Shepherd (Der Traum des Hirten)
Ferdinand Hodler
1896
Island of the Dead, Arnold Böcklin Swiss, Oil on wood
Island of the Dead
Arnold Böcklin
1880
Waterfall at Mont-Dore, Achille-Etna Michallon French, Oil on canvas
Waterfall at Mont-Dore
Achille-Etna Michallon
1818
Ponte San Rocco and Waterfalls, Tivoli, François Marius Granet French, Oil on canvas
Ponte San Rocco and Waterfalls, Tivoli
François Marius Granet
ca. 1810–20

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