The painting that is my oldest memory
My earliest childhood memory is from when I was a baby. Apparently, I cried all the time – probably because of the rude arrival of my brother when I was fourteen months old!
My dad would be deputed to try to get me to shut up when I woke bawling my head off in the middle of the night. He used to sing The Man from Laramie while pacing up and down with me.
But the thing I loved most was when he held me up in front of a painting on the wall of our flat and described it to me. It was a Victorian picture – Italian I imagine as the children appear to be eating pasta. It’s a peasant family: parents, two children, and, serving the meal, the nonna.
I would say the words with him – “There’s the mummy, there’s the daddy, there’s the baby” etc.
For some reason known only to me (possibly relating to its poor representation!) I was completely unable to identify the cat – instead I thought it was a disembodied ear.
Goodness knows why I imagined a giant ear would be floating around the kitchen floor!
It’s a simple abode, rather gloomy with darkened walls – maybe from the smoke of the fire. There’s a raffia chianti bottle on a shelf behind the table. None of the adults are eating or drinking so I presume that would have happened after the children had gone to bed. The mother seems to have been spinning flax or wool and there’s washing hanging in the large fireplace. Perhaps it was because the setting and clothing were alien to me that it was such a source of fascination.
My dad was given the picture by the local parish priest who had a large collection of art and had run out of wall space in the presbytery. When my mum died in 2016 I inherited it. It’s not worth more than a few quid and has no particular artistic merit but it has huge sentimental value to me. It now hangs on my bedroom wall.
The artist? His name appears to be Jarinei – I have found no record of any painter with that name but there is a hill – Col Jarinei in Cortina in the Dolomites so maybe he’s named after his residence. If this is the case, then my little Italian family were mountain dwellers. I found a video on YouTube that features Col Jarinei. It looks stunning. Sadly, I’ve only visited the Dolomites briefly – for a skiing weekend when I lived in Italy. If any readers are experts in art history or this part of the Dolomites and are able to enlighten me please leave a comment below. And of course I’d love to know what your earliest childhood memory was.
I loved the books set in Penang. I only spent a short time there in the 1990s but loved the ambiance and your books talk to me. Loved all I have read so far
Thank you – I’m delighted you enjoyed the books!