“The Prayer” is a mural created in 2002 by Angelo Pilloni.
The design idea is based on the famous “The Angelus,” one of Millet’s best-known works, which depicts a couple of peasants interrupting their hard work in the fields at the sound of bells announcing the Angelus, shown in their devotion, intent on prayer.
However, this is not simply a tribute to one of the muralist’s most beloved artists, but a conceptual transposition of a masterpiece of world art.
Pilloni’s reinterpretation, in fact, emphasizes the identity elements with the addition of the cart with the horse (typical of the rural Campidanese world) and the barely recognizable bell tower in the background, recalling the nearby parish church of San Sperate.
But if, according to Salvator Dali’s findings, Millet’s original version would have been a wake for a child laid in a coffin later modified after the author’s second thoughts, in the Sperate mural this burden of tragedy is entirely absent.
What strongly shines through is the composed dignity of the two bystanders who entrust their daily efforts and labors to prayer, in the solid hope of help that will ensure they can support their family.
