size of the original painting: unknown
Here is an ordinary family in the 1900s having an ordinary day—but is it? Who doesn’t love to see a baby’s first step? And who doesn’t want a happy home? These are themes everyone can relate to, which might be why people loved Zampighi’s art so much.
This painting also invites other questions:
• Is the chicken this family’s pet?
• Why does the hen have free reign inside the house?
• Why is the left basket upside-down?
• What do you think the mother was doing before her baby tried to walk?
• How is this living room like your living room? How is it different?
Fun Facts about this Painting:
• Zampighi must have really liked babies learning how to walk because he painted at least three more with the same theme: First Steps, The First Step, and A Child’s First Step!
• Zampighi refused to show his paintings publicly, so most of his work belongs to private collectors.
Meet the Artist:
Eugenio Zampighi was 13 years old when he started art school. He preferred painting ordinary Italian peasants doing ordinary—and always happy—things at home. He took photographs that he referred to while making his pictures. Tourists loved that Eugenio portrayed happy people and started buying his paintings—so he made a lot more!
Where in the world: Italy
