Lot Essay
Reggiannini was an almost entirely self-taught artist who, along with Soulacroix, Corcos and Federico Andreotti, enjoyed huge commerical success during his lifetime. His contemporary reputation grew from the renown of this genre pictures --intimate gatherings that serve as a pretext for his grand depictions of luxury. The 19th century saw the emergence of the cult of the home as an influential feature in middle class life and imagination, and paintings such as The Lullaby satisfied an enormous demand for sentimental genre scenes of family life.