The young flageolet player

In Rome young flageolet players, called Pifferari, used to come to town from the Campagna Romana in the month of December to play Christmas tunes in order to earn some money. To visitors from the Northern countries it was a delightful and unusal sight (see: M. Roding et al., De blijvende verlokking, Kunstenaars uit de Lage Landen in Italïe, 1806-1940, Rotterdam 2003, p. 95). Although it is not known if Van Schendel actually visited Rome, the young shepherds inspired him to at least two paintings, of which the present lot is a fine example.

We wish to thank Jan de Meere for his kind assistance in cataloguing this lot.