The reputation of Magnasco (Italian, Genoa, 1667 - 1749), one of the most individual eighteenth-century painters, resides in the exuberance of his technique and the fantasy of his subject matter. Here people from the fringes of society have gathered to watch the spectacle of a man trying to teach a magpie to sing - an impossible task. The picture was probably painted in about 1707–8, when Magnasco was working for the Medici in Florence and was in contact with Sebastiano Ricci.
[Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - Oil on canvas, 63.5 x 74.9 cm]
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