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Through this painting, created by Natale Bentivoglio Scarpa – better known by his pseudonym Cagnaccio di San Pietro – the exhibition focuses on one of the most fascinating and original periods of the 20th century in Italy: Magic Realism.

In stark contrast to the deconstructions and dynamism of the avant-garde movements or the ethereal quality of nineteenth-century art, Cagnaccio proposes a return to the precision of drawing and formal clarity, inherited from the great fifteenth-century tradition, whilst immersing them in a suspended, enigmatic atmosphere imbued with a subtle sense of unease.

The work depicts a little girl, Lilli, sitting in a room, clutching a doll in her arms.

The element that defines Cagnaccio’s unique style is the absolute and razor-sharp clarity of his pictorial vision. Every detail is rendered with an almost hyper-realistic precision: the three-dimensionality of the bodies, the smooth, glazed quality of the skin and the stiff texture of the fabrics eliminate any sense of atmospheric softness. In the background, beyond the geometric frame of a window protected by a grille, an exterior view opens up. The metal grille acts as a visual and conceptual barrier, separating the protected and intimate space of childhood from the outside world.

Despite the apparent realism of the scene, the canvas exudes a profound and magical strangeness. The light, cold and crystalline, freezes time and immobilises the subjects in absolute, almost hypnotic silence. The doll itself, with her face turned upwards and her eyes wide open, takes on an unsettling stillness that resonates with the serious, focused gaze of the little girl. Within the exhibition’s narrative, this work documents an intimate and powerful interpretation of the Novecento movement, in which the female universe is explored from childhood onwards, revealing the solitude and mystery hidden behind the façade of a simple domestic game.