This is one of a group of small tempera paintings by Estella Canziani in the Birmingham Collection. They are particularly valuable in providing documentary information on the clothes and associated lifestyle of the local people living in remote villages in Northern Italy. 'One evening I saw a woman going home, carrying a cradle on her back. It was supported by the 'caula', which is made of two straight pieces of wood, with curved supports and ropes passing over the shoulders. The woman told me it was the usual way of carrying babies, and she said she would sit to me... ' (Estella Canziani, 1913)