Mother and child.

Drawing, watercolour, 35,5 x 24,2 cm, paper, signed.

Stuck under passe-partout, under gilt wooden frame (not studied outside frame).

A touching scene of a working-class mother bidding farewell to her young daughter at an open door. The style and subject are representative of Cesare Dell'Acqua (1821-1905), a painter known for historical paintings who had moved from Italy to Brussels in 1848. He began to specialise in works representing historical events. Between 1852 and 1877 he completed a number of commissioned works in Trieste which established his reputation as a painter. In Brussels the works he exhibited enjoyed a very favourable response and he received commissions from prominent families in Brussels, such as Errera, van Wambecke and van der Elst.