The Tame Magpie. Artist: Alessandro Magnasco (Italian, Genoa 1667-1749 Genoa). Dimensions: 25 x 29 1/2 in. (63.5 x 74.9 cm). Date: ca. 1707-8.The reputation of Magnasco, one of the most individual eighteenth-century painters, resides in the exuberance of his technique and the fantasy of his subject matter. Here people from the fringes of society have gathered to watch the spectacle of a man trying to teach a magpie to sing--an impossible task. The picture was probably painted when Magnasco was working for the Medici in Florence and was in contact with Sebastiano Ricci. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.