Washerwomen from Tivoli

Bartolomeo Pinelli

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-1736
Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name: Washerwomen from Tivoli
Date of creation: 1816
Technique: etching watercolour
Material: paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 10.5 x 16.5

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

This work is from the Roman series. The first watercolour engraving with the same name but completely different in composition was issued in the album Costume Popolare tratto dalla "Nuova Raccolta di Cinquanta Motivi Pittoreschi e costumi di Roma" published in Rome in 1810. A composition similar to the so-called Lviv one was performed by Pinelli in 1815. It was published in the album Nuova Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi incisi all 'acquaforte da Bartolomeo Pinelli Romano, Nicola de Antoni impresse, Ignazio Pavon Offre e Dedica, Roma 1816. In that composition, the scene was taking place against the background of fragments of ancient architecture. A similar image to the Lviv version but not painted with watercolours was first issued in the album Nuova Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi li più interessanti delle città, terre e paesi in provincie diverse del Regno di Napoli (New Collection of Fifty Most Interesting Picturesque Costumes from Cities, Towns and Villages of Different Provinces of the Kingdom of Naples) published by Giovanni Scudellari in Rome in 1817. The engraving Lavatrici di Tivoli was completely different from the Lviv version and was published in the Pittoreskes Italien album of Karl Ludwig Frommel in Leipzig in 1840; it included 103 engravings. In the foreground, one can see three young women washing clothes in a stone reservoir placed under the trunk of a mighty tree on a hill. A well-dressed young man in a wide-brimmed black hat with a blue cloak slung over his shoulder approached the washerwomen. Two laundrywomen made eye contact with him while the third continued doing her job. The rich and bright range of colours of the women's clothing, namely red, blue and yellow tones, highlight the female images. The background with a forest on a mountain slope is depicted in a dimmed blue and green range.
Tivoli, an ancient Tibur, was conquered by the Romans in the 4th century BC. It is located northwest of Rome. In the Renaissance period, the city was built up due to the efforts of the popes. The old buildings were damaged during the Allies bombing in 1944.

Inscriptions

Below, in the centre, is the author's signature Pinelli, written in italics, and the date 1816. In the centre of the engraving, under the image, is the work's title Lavatrici di Tivoli. The number "32" is in the upper right corner above the plate.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Washerwomen from Tivoli

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