Collection

Man and Woman from the Village of Villalago, L'Aquila Province, in Upper Abruzzo

Bartolomeo Pinelli

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-1758
Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name: Man and Woman from the Village of Villalago, L'Aquila Province, in Upper Abruzzo
Date of creation: 1816
Technique: etching watercolor
Material: paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 10 x 16.2

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 a son of the ceramist J. B. Pinelli. Bartolomeo Pinelli was born in 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 studio of Felice Giani, an Italian painter of the Neoclassic style, from whom he inherited the style of drawing. 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 Lviv's engravings are from this series. The main 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 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 Neapolitan series. The analogues of this work have not been found. The engraving in a black and white version was probably issued in Pinelli's albums dated 1816 and 1817. In the foreground, one can see two figures, namely a young shepherd who is sitting in profile under a tree and leaning on a stick, and a young girl in traditional festive clothing, who approached the boy and is talking to him, pointing at something with her left hand. The girl is wearing a dress with long sleeves and bows on the shoulders, a yellow skirt with ornamental ribbons at the bottom, and an apron with zoomorphic and floral motifs tied over it. On her head there is a headscarf with a long end thrown over the arm; there are blue shoes on her legs. The curly-haired young man is wearing a yellow jacket, narrow blue knee-length pants; there are ciocie over the white stockings on his legs; there is a wide black hat on his head. He is sitting on a stone covered with a red cloth, which highlights the composition. The action is taking place in the background of a valley with trees, where one can see the outlines of a high mountain range in the distance, under which the buildings of the mountain settlement can be seen.

Inscriptions

In the lower right corner there is the author’s signature Pinelli written in italics, date – 1816, and the place of performance – Roma (illegibly). In the center of the engraving under the image there is the work’s title Uomo, e Donna del Paese di Villalago, Provincia dell’Aquila, Abruzzo Ultra. There is a number "46" in the upper right corner above the plate.

Man and Woman from the Village of Villalago, L'Aquila Province, in Upper Abruzzo

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