Cesare Dell'Acqua was born in Piran, near Trieste, in 1821. He devoted his spare time to drawing and attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice.
One of his first historical works, ‘The Meeting of Cimabue and the Young Giotto’, joined the collections of John of Austria and began a succession of commissions for the young artist.
He travelled throughout Europe and settled in Brussels in 1848, where his brother was established as a merchant. He joined the newly-founded Cercle Artistique et Littéraire de Bruxelles. He maintained close links with the city of Trieste and painted for Archduke Maximilian for his Miramare castle.
He took part in the Universal Exhibition in Vienna in 1873 and in London the following year.
He died in 1905 in Ixelles, where he lived, and a major retrospective exhibition was organised in his honour by the Cercle Artistique.
The drawing presented here is monogrammed CDA at bottom left and dated September 1, 1850. Cesare Dell'Acqua had been in Brussels for two years, and this drawing could be seen as a call for recognition. He depicts himself in the middle of the composition, his hand resting on the shoulder of a woman who is an obvious reference to Raphael's La Belle Jardinière; however, he chooses to depict her with her arms outstretched, holding her child upright, and is inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's Saint Anne.
Combining the two Renaissance masters, two influences of paramount importance to the artist, he shows the child advancing towards a dog, a symbol of fidelity. The artist presents himself as an heir and protector of Renaissance art.
