Eugenio Cecconi (Leghorn 1842 - Florence 1903) HUNTING GATHERING oil on canvas, 74.5x116.5 cm signed lower right BIG GAME HUNTING GATHERING oil on canvas, 74.5x116.5 cm signed lower right Exhibition Group exhibition, Società Promotrice delle Belle Arti di Firenze, Florence, 1881, no. 241 Group Exhibition, Società Promotrice delle Belle Arti di Torino, Turin, 1882, no. 188 International Fine Arts Exhibition in Rome, Rome, 1883, no. 100 Prima esposizione di Belle Arti in Livorno, Livorno, 1886, no. 342 Retrospective of paintings and drawings , Società Leonardo da Vinci, Florence, 1904 Literature "Collective Exhibition, Società Promotrice delle Belle Arti di Firenze (exhibition catalogue), Florence, 1881, no. 241 Catalogue of the Collective Exhibition, Società Promotrice delle Belle Arti di Torino (exhibition catalogue), Turin, 1882, no. 188 Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Fine Arts in Rome , Rome, 1883, no. 100 Catalogue of the First Exhibition of Fine Arts in Livorno , Livorno, 1886, no. 342 G. Daddi, Eugenio Cecconi , Lecco 1973, pl. 118, p.225 G. Daddi, A. M. Ranzi, Cecconi, Mariani, Quadrone, caccia e natura nella pittura italiana dell'Ottocento , Florence, 2003, p. 77, n. 7 "And here I am talking about the "big hunt" proper. In the morning, at dawn, the gamekeeper blows the horns through the village. The horn properly so called is made from an ox horn, but any goat horn, or niche, improperly called a snail, is needed. Small landowners, hunters, farm workers, shopkeepers, vagabonds, go down the street, gather in the shops, find out where the gathering will take place. Those who have a horse, a mule, a donkey, saddle it; those who have dogs, tie them up: everyone prepares breakfast; and in small groups, they ride to the meeting point. The cavalcade of masters, guests, farmers, and guards descends from the castle, reaches the villagers, and with them arrives where a white smoke indicates the meeting point, which is sometimes a very short distance from the village, sometimes two or three hours away. Although the gatherings have lost much of the character they had twenty or thirty years ago, they are always picturesque and varied. Elegant sportmens in impeccable hunting costumes, mingled with men of the woods, all covered in skins from head to toe, old hunters with long beards and prehistoric cane rifles, and 10- or 12-year-old cowboys. Here the butteri with their wide hard hats, goat furs and medieval spurs, there the Aquilani with their sharp little hats all feathered and spindly, their blue jackets and sheep's breeches. Here a group of lordly horses saddled in the English manner, there a line of horses with long, plodding tails, shaggy manes, with halters and halters and shades and heavy trappings and collars and bronzes: with broad, soft yellow saddles called à la ducale or tall, shiny saddles like burnished steel called à la maremmana, with the bead and the arches all adorned with brass nails; and burros with a sack tied on their backs for the whole saddle and with a rope on their muzzles for the whole bridle. And in the midst of this variety of men and horses a swarm of dogs of all sizes, of all shapes, of all colours, and I would like to say of all breeds if there were real breeds of hounds in Tuscany, but there are not. (in: G.Daddi, Eugenio Cecconi , 1973, p.103)