In Naples, Balestrieri was forced to support himself as a decorative painter for rooms in private residences, but continued studying under Gioacchino Toma.

However, lured by the bohemian artistic circles of Paris, at the age of 20 years he moved there, working as an assistant to the Florentine engraver Osvaldo Tofani.

The painting depicts a dimly lit garret-like apartment with a strand of listeners along the left wall, each in their own mood, while a violinist plays between them and a furnace.

He was briefly linked to a group of artists calling themselves the Gruppo degli Ostinati (Group of Obstinates); including Alberto Chiancone, Franco Girosi (1896-1987), Giovanni Brancaccio, Eugenio Viti, Manfredi Franco and Francesco Galante; meeting at the Caffè Tripoli at Piazza del Plebiscito; and urging the introduction of Modernist styles into the Neapolitan art circles.

It has organized, with the help of the comune, a number of restrospectives of the painter and his circle, including one in 2015 at the Palazzo Minutelli Ciolo (city hall).