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Playing Bocce in Rome

Bartolomeo Pinelli

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-1712
Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name: Playing Bocce in Rome
Date of creation: 1810s
Technique: etching watercolour
Material: paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 10 x 16

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: genre art
Provenance: Collection of Faina Tarashchanska (Lviv), 1966

Information about author

Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Artist's lifetime: 1781–1835
Country: Italy
Biography: Bartolomeo Pinelli (1781, Rome – 1835, ibid.) was an Italian painter, engraver, and sculptor. He was the son of the ceramist G. B. Pinelli. Bartolomeo was born in the Trastevere district (over the Tiber River). He studied in Bologna and later at the Academy of Saint Luke in Rome. The artist attended the Academy of Felice Giani, an Italian painter of the Neoclassic style, from whom he adopted the drawing style. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Pinelli took an interest in the engravings of the Renaissance, namely in the works by Marcantonio Raimondi, and started making etchings and lithographs out of his drawings. In 1809, Pinelli created his first series of watercolour etchings – Collection of Fifty Picturesque Costumes (Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi). The album was reissued in 1814 and 1815. In 1816, a new version of the album under the title New Collection of Fifty Picturesque Costumes (Nuova Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi incisi di acqua forte) was released. Most of the Lviv engravings are from this series. The central theme of the artist's work is genre scenes (Costumi), which he saw in Rome and Naples, as well as the provinces of Abruzzo and Molise. Pinelli's engravings are not only of artistic value but also carry important ethnographic information. In the 1820s and 1830s, the artist created drawings and engravings for poems by Torquato Tasso (1827–1829) and the novel "Don Quixote" (1834) by Miguel de Cervantes. One of Pinelli's famous series of drawings is "Seven Hills of Rome" (Sette colli di Roma) (1827–1830). The artist's works are housed in many Italian museums and collections of other countries.

Object description

The first work, Giuoco di boccia, in Roma, was performed by Bartolomeo Pinelli for Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi (Collection of Fifty Picturesque Costumes), published in 1809. Bocce players (bocce means balls, bowls) were represented there against the background of fragments of the ruins of ancient Rome. That composition was published later in Leipzig, in 1840, in the album Pittoreskes Italien. In a simplified version (without an architectural background and with fewer players), it is presented, in particular, in the Lviv collection. This version of B. Pinelli's engraving has been known since 1816. It was issued in the album Nuova Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi incisi di acqua forte (New Collection of Fifty Picturesque Costumes), published in Rome in 1817. This composition is from a series of Roman entertainments. In front of the brick wall are five young men enwrapped in the bowling game. One had just thrown a stone ball toward another but failed to hit the target. The opponent in the centre points at it, and the others closely follow the game. Unlike the multi-figure first etching, this composition is light and dynamic. The engraving is painted with bright watercolours, with prevailing red, blue, and green.
A game of bowls (boccia, bocce, English: to bowl) is a traditional Italian game played with heavy balls and known since ancient times. In the nineteenth century, it was spread by Italian emigrants to America and Australia.

Inscriptions

In the lower left corner, there is the author's signature Pinelli f. [fecit]. In the centre of the engraving, under the image, is the work's title Il Giuoco di boccia, in Roma. The number "12" is in the upper right corner of the engraving above the plate.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Playing Bocce in Rome

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