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Pilgrim Allowing to Kiss a Relic

Bartolomeo Pinelli

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-1723
Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name: Pilgrim Allowing to Kiss a Relic
Date of creation: 1810s
Technique: etching watercolour
Material: paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 10.2 x 16.1

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 work is from the Charity of Capuchin Monks series. The first version of the work titled Eremita che fa bagiare una Reliquia was performed by Pinelli in 1809 for the album Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi incisi di acqua forte (Collection of Fifty Picturesque Costumes) published in 1809. The engraving from the Lviv collection shows no urban landscape in the background. However, the characters are performed more confidently. The author emphasises the strict profile of the monk and the trust of the children and their mothers, and, at the same time, the scepticism of the boy with a basket on the left. Behind the monk on the podium, there is a cross with instruments of Christ's sufferings. The primary focus is riveted on a girl kissing the image given to her by the monk. The simple and fast drawing is painted with contrasting watercolours; the artist actively used brown and light grey paints in the centre of the work; the clothing of the figures to the right and left of the monk is painted in bright colours.
Capuchin Monks or The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (Ordo Fratrum Minorum Capucinorum) is a Catholic order that separated from the Franciscans in the 16th century. The Capuchins were characterised by charity and asceticism. Their clothing consisted of a brown soutane with a hood sewn to it, a rope with a knot on the belt (a symbol of the inviolability of vows), and sandals worn on their bare feet.

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 title of the work, Eremita che fa bagiare una Reliquia. The number "21" is in the upper right corner of the engraving above the plate.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Pilgrim Allowing to Kiss a Relic

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