A young peasant woman with fair skin and delicate features has fallen asleep. She is dressed in simple, loose-fitting clothing reflecting her lack of wealth including puffy off-white linen sleeves and a peach-colored bodice that reveals a fair amount of her décolletage. She wears a wide-brimmed hat likely made of straw, which casts a slight shadow on her face, further adding to the sense of relaxation. She is completely languid and relaxed resting her head on her left hand, placed gently on her neck as she slumps back emphasizing her weariness and face looking skyward. Her other hand rests loosely in her lap. Her expression is endearing as she breathes through her open mouth ... clearly a woman who has simply "fallen asleep." The overall impression is one of utter peaceful relaxation setting the tone for a gentle, peaceful, and perhaps somewhat amusing painting. Giuseppe Angeli was born in 1712 in Venice and entered the shop of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta before he was twenty years old. By 1741, he was officially registered as an independent painter, but instead of establishing his own studio he became the director of Piazzetta's workshop. Among the painters employed by Piazzetta, Angeli was the most adept at imitating the master's late-Baroque style. Angeli succeeded in cultivating his own circle of influential patrons in Venice and its mainland territories. He is not known to have left the city for study or work. Elected drawing master in 1756, Angeli was long a leading member of the Venetian Academy until the later 1770s. He received a medal of honor from the Venetian government in 1774 for his accomplishments in religious painting.

Giovane contadina che dorme (Sleeping Country Girl) by Giuseppe Angeli (Italian) - Oil on canvas / c. 1745-1755 - Chazen Museum of Art (Madison, Wisconsin) #womeninart #art #sleeping #ChazenMuseumofArt #oilpainting #fineart #GiuseppeAngeli #UWM #italianart #sleepingwoman #womensart #portraitofawoman