Trasteverines Playing Ruzzola (Ruzzica)

Bartolomeo Pinelli

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-1715
Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name: Trasteverines Playing Ruzzola (Ruzzica)
Date of creation: 1816
Technique: etching watercolour
Material: paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 10 x 16

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 first version of the composition Trasteverini. giocando alla Ruzzica was performed by B. Pinelli for the album Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi (Collection of Fifty Picturesque Costumes), published in 1809. Ruzzola (ruzzica) players are in the background of the ruins' fragments of ancient Rome. In the simplified version (without the ancient Roman architectural background) presented, particularly in the Lviv collection, Pinelli's engraving has been known since 1816. It was published in the album Nuova Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi incisi di acqua forte (New Collection of Fifty Picturesque Costumes), released in Rome in 1817. The composition is from a series of Roman entertainments. Five young men are playing ruzzola. The most stocky of them, depicted in the centre, is about to throw a disk with a head of cheese along the road. Another one on the left is preparing his disk for the game. The composition is intense and dynamic; the drawing is skilful and light. The engraving is painted in bright watercolours, with prevailing red, blue, yellow, and green. In the title, the author emphasises that the players are residents of the Trastevere district, where Bartolomeo Pinelli came from and where he lived.
Ruzzola is a traditional Italian game with wooden disks thrown along the road. In the provinces of Lazio, Terra di Lavoro, Abruzzo, and Marche, the game was called ruzzica. A head of hard pecorino cheese was placed into the disk.

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 work's title Trasteverini. giocando alla Ruzzica. The number "15" is in the upper right corner above the image.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Trasteverines Playing Ruzzola (Ruzzica)

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