Oil on canvas (with wax lining), signed and dated lower right "J. L. Pickering '76," presented in the likely original carved walnut frame with gilt liner. This painting references La gazza ladra (or The Thieving Magpie), a melodramma or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. First performed in 1817, the opera tells a romanticized version of a true story in which a servant girl was executed for purportedly stealing a silver spoon from her master, when, in fact, the true culprit was just a lowly magpie.

SS 19.75 x 13.75 in; DOA 28.5 x 22.5 i.

The Estate Collection of the late W. Samuel Tarlton

$800 - 1,200