Oil on canvas, 152.5cm by 152cm.
The subject is taken from an Italian pastoral tragicomedy in which Silvio, a young man who lives only for the hunt, wounds Dorinda, a nymph who has tried, in vain, to win his love.
He mistakes her for a wolf, as she has disguised herself as a shepherd wearing wolf skins, in order to watch him at the hunt.
Having wounded her, he is moved to pity and at last, to love.
The artist, Chiari, was born in Rome and was one of the main assistants in the studio of Carlo Maratta in his later years.
He was active mainly in Rome where he painted many church frescoes.
