3-065-808 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Nina" - from a picture by A. Bonifazi, 1874. Engraving of a painting. 'The little ones of Signor A. Bonifazi are not the ideal cherubs of many non-Italian painters - they are the true children of the Roman populace or peasantry. "Nina," whose portrait we engrave, is a sample of her sisters. You might meet just such a little girl anywhere about the streets of Rome or out on the Campagna, except where the malaria is more than ordinarily poisonous, for there both children and adults betray its baneful influence in their fever-worn features, sallow complexion, and wistful look of pain. Yet there is nothing of the conventional Italian about our Nina. She has not a "Roman nose;'' she has not even the "low Italian brow." Her nationality might possibly not be suspected, save for her unkempt hair and dark lustrous eyes veiled by black lashes, not to be matched for length and thickness out of Italy. Those who know the Romans best will, however, recognise a familiar type. In the picture, moreover, the colours and trimmings of her dress, as well as her collar, would proclaim her origin; whilst her necklace and earrings suggest that fondness for trinkets and personal ornaments which the very poorest of Italian women contrive to indulge'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.