The Devil's Tail by Fausto Zonaro
The Devil's Tail by Fausto Zonaro (ca. 1888)
Resolution: 8883 × 5165 px
A long chain of barefoot village girls crosses a bright meadow, each holding the waist or skirt of the figure ahead during the game known as the Devil’s Tail. The leading girl steps forward with confident hands at her hips, while the line bends and twists behind her. Two boys and a younger seated child watch from the left beneath the edge of a leafy wood.
Zonaro stretches the action across the unusually wide canvas, using repeated heads, linked arms, and alternating skirts to create a lively visual rhythm. Coral, ochre, blue, lilac, white, and russet clothing stands out against the layered emerald and turquoise grass. Precise faces and gestures are set within looser, flickering strokes in the meadow and distant trees.
Painted around 1888, The Devil’s Tail belongs to Fausto Zonaro’s early rural genre scenes before his later career in Istanbul. The painting turns a communal children’s game into an expansive study of movement, character, and everyday village life. This exceptionally high-resolution Fausto Zonaro image is suited to close study, social-history reference, Realist art research, and detailed digital display.
