File:Artgate Fondazione Cariplo - Bazzaro Leonardo, Pastorella con capre presso un rustico.jpg

Originally from a private collection, this painting depicts a young female goatherd on the steps of a rustic dwelling, with two goats near her waiting to be fed. The scene is framed by the building on the left, the large rock on the right and, above, a patch of sky dotted with clouds. The subject, the sketch for which is known to have been auctioned at the Galleria Geri, Milan, in 1942, is inspired by peasant life observed by the artist during his frequent sojourns between Gignese and Alpino in the Verbano area and in Valle d’Aosta, during the last decade of the 19th century. The success encountered by this kind of landscape painting, which also characterises, along with subjects featuring the Venetian Lagoon, the production of other exponents of Lombard Naturalism like Mosè Bianchi, enabled Bazzaro to successfully repropose it to a public with more traditional tastes well into the 20th century.

Although inspired by the same places, this painting differs from Bazzaro’s Herdsmen’s Huts at Macugnaga and Alpine Scene in the Cariplo Collection due to the more rapid execution with broad brushstrokes and large patches of colour, which distinguished the artist’s maturity.