SALVATORE TESTA, The Chosen One

Title: The Chosen One
Artist: Salvatore Testa
Medium: Oil on cotton canvas
Size: 100 × 80 cm
Stretcher: 65 × 20 mm slat
Year: August 2025

Description
The elder knows his newborn granddaughter is a special soul and immediately offers her a noble goal, signaled by the customary pearl of knowledge—a goal that contains all other fulfillments. The ordinary man, however, does not see this and fears that choosing a metaphysical path means losing sensual pleasures. This awareness grounds the serene postures of the two women and the elder around the child.
Calling the child “chosen” does not rank her above others; rather, it points to and restores the most noble and natural paths for human life—certainly not sensual dissipation or material wealth.
The child’s distinctive posture toward the pearl is the composition’s most characterful element. The wise elder envisions the girl’s future, while the two women wear expressions of calm certainty about that destiny.