Collection

Musicians-Carciofolari in Rome

Bartolomeo Pinelli

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-1755
Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name: Musicians-Carciofolari in Rome
Date of creation: 1817
Technique: etching watercolor
Material: paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 10.2 x 16.3

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
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 Pinelli was born in the Trastevere district (over the River Tiber). Street sketches of that western suburb of Rome repeatedly appeared in his graphic works later. He studied in Bologna, later on – at Accademia di San Luca (Academy of Saint Luke) in Rome. He attended the Academy of Felice Giani, an Italian painter of the Neoclassic style, from whom he inherited the drawing style. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Bartolomeo 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 watercolor etchings – Collection of 50 picturesque costumes (Raccola di cinquanta costumi pittoreschi). The album was reissued in 1814 and 1815. In 1816, a new version of the album under the title 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 creative work is genre scenes (Costumi), which he saw in Rome, Naples, as well as the provinces of Abruzzo and Molise. Pinelli's engravings have not only 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 as well as in collections of other countries.

Object description

The work is from the Roman series. The watercolor engraving that was replicated in the Lviv version was created by the artist in 1816. The composition in its black and white variant is presented in the album Nuova Raccolta di Cinquanta costumi pittoreschi incisi di acqua forte (Collection of fifty picturesque costumes) published by Giovanni Scudellari in Rome in 1817. In the foreground, one can see a quartet of musicians, namely two harpists, one cellist and a boy with a triangle (musical instrument). They are dressed in bright clothes; there are black hats with high tops on their heads. They are walking along the plain, against the background of a mountain above an ancient aqueduct on the left and a forested hill on the right. Carciofolari are musicians from Abruzzo. They were mostly a trio of two harpists and a violinist (either a violist or a cellist) who was holding the fingerboard of his instrument down. Their name comes from the word "carciofolà", which means artichoke. The verses of many Neapolitan lyrical songs ended with this word. Carciofolari were an integral part of Roman folklife.

Inscriptions

In the lower left corner there is the author’s signature Pinelli written in italics, the place of performance – Roma (illegibly), and date – 1817. In the center of the engraving under the image there is the work’s title Li Carciofolari in Roma. There is a number "45" in the upper right corner above the plate.

Musicians-Carciofolari in Rome

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