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Banquet in Rome on Testaccio Hill

Bartolomeo Pinelli

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-1699
Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name: Banquet in Rome on Testaccio Hill
Date of creation: 1810s
Country: Flanders
Technique: etching watercolour
Material: paper
Dimensions: 10.3 x 16.1 cm (height x width)

Additionally

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

Information about author

Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Author in the original: 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 a version of the composition by B. Pinelli of the 1810s from the album Raccolta (1809). The previous engraving depicted a multi-figure composition with five gentlemen and three ladies sitting at a table under an oak tree; in the background, behind a ravine, there was a group of dancers. The same version was published in the edition of 1814. Instead, the so-called Lviv later version is a foreground composition where two ladies are sitting, and three gentlemen are standing and sitting at a table near an old tree in the background of a mountain peak. One of the gentlemen is hugging the lady, another is playing the lute, and the third is giving a toast. The engraving is brightly coloured, with prevailing red, pink, and blue.
Monte Testaccio is a hill in Rome, located on the River Tiber's eastern bank. It is a place where ancient amphorae were accumulated. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, it was a place where young people held their banquets. Trastevere, Pinelli's family home, was located on the opposite bank of the River Tiber, that is why one can see different views of Testaccio in his engravings.

Inscriptions

In the lower right corner, there is the author's signature – Pinelli. In the centre of the engraving, under the image, is the work's title Baccanale di Roma in Testaccio. The number "2" is in the upper right corner above the image.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Banquet in Rome on Testaccio Hill

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