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

Bartolomeo Pinelli

  • Man and Woman from the Village of Villalago, L'Aquila Province, in Upper Abruzzo 2
  • Man and Woman from the Village of Villalago, L'Aquila Province, in Upper Abruzzo 3
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 watercolour
Material
paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
10 x 16.2
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 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: a young shepherd sitting in profile under a tree and leaning on a stick and a young girl in traditional festive clothing who approaches the boy and talks 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 is a headscarf with a long end thrown over the arm; blue shoes are on her legs. The curly-haired young man wears a yellow jacket and narrow blue knee-length pants. There are ciocie over the white stockings on his legs and a broad black hat on his head. He is sitting on a stone covered with a red cloth, highlighting the composition. The action occurs in the background of a valley with trees, where one can see the outlines of a high mountain range in the distance and the buildings of the mountain settlement beneath them.
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 centre of the engraving, under the image, is the work's title: Uomo, e Donna del Paese di Villalago, Provincia dell'Aquila, Abruzzo Ultra. The number "46" is in the upper right corner above the plate.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery