Four peasants playing music

A late baroque painter active in Rome, Paolo Monaldi is known for his bambocciate, scenes featuring peasants engaged in the simple pleasures of country life: playing games and music, drinking, and dancing. His images often feature arcadian settings and frequently include ruined, thatched buildings. In 1767, along with Paolo Anesi, Monaldi decorated the Villa Chigi in Via Salaria, Rome, where he painted a series of idyllic scenes. In the 1770s he participated in the decoration of the Palazzo Barberini, where the bambocciate on the doors have been attributed to him.

In this lively scene, a young girl plays an instrument for her companions. An elderly man standing at right listens thoughtfully, apparently lost in the tune as he mixes wine in the large jug in his hands. Their companions gaze in the girl's direction; one accompanies the music on another instrument, while the other, seated with a jug of wine, seems rapt in admiration.