The history of this work in terms of ownership began in Venice with the Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte di Venezia in 1895, where it was purchased by the Italian royal family for the Villa Reale in Monza. The collections of the House of Savoy were dispersed in the aftermath of World War II and the work did not reappear on the market until 1966. Having been recognised by critics as a milestone of Realism on its very first appearance, it was later sent to the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900. Evidence of the lasting esteem enjoyed by the painting is also provided by the autograph replicas produced for illustrious private collections and the numerous variants in watercolours.
The large canvas was preceded a now lost watercolour entitled Pain and Curiosity shown at the Esposizione Straordinaria Nazionale e Internazionale di Acquerelli in 1893 and the Milan Trienniale in 1894. The two mental states are expressed, in the final version of the painting, in the desperation of the woman crouched on the stairs and the bewilderment of the children gathered around a girl not much bigger than they are. The simple change in title can be seen as reflecting the now accomplished transition of Luigi Rossi’s painting to a symbolic interpretation of the customary social themes, a process fostered by his close relationship with the poet Gian Pietro Lucini. The appearance of the watercolour in 1894 was, in fact, followed in 1894 by Lucini’s poem La Prima Orma, identifying in the subject the indelible impression made in childhood by the first experience of sorrow. This symbolic interpretation unquestionably influenced the choice of the title for the work, which is one of those the poet observed while it was being executed. The theme of the neglected child, still depicted according to the canons of realistic genre painting, thus acquired a universal dimension and meaning.
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