Sorbet Seller in Naples

Bartolomeo Pinelli

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-1754
Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name: Sorbet Seller in Naples
Date of creation: 1810s
Technique: etching watercolour
Material: paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 10.3 x 16.3

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 work is from the Neapolitan series. The engraving probably dates back to 1816. Its variant in black and white version was issued in the album entitled Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi li più interresanti delle città, terre e paesi in provincia diverse del Regno di Napoli (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. B. Pinelli also performed this composition in a square frame (presented in the album published in Leipzig in 1840). In the foreground, there are bright figures of Neapolitans. A young salesman is giving the girl some sorbet from a long spoon. Next to the girl is her older brother; with one of his hands on the girl's shoulder, he is passing the coin to the seller with the other hand. Close to them is a barrel of ice, in which a cylinder with sorbet is placed; in front of the barrel is a basket of sweets. The action is taking place in one of the squares of Naples (apparently, this is the northern part of the city called Sanita), between the sacred buildings and against the background of Vesuvius, the top of which is fuming in the distance. The author used bright colours to depict the characters' clothes. Dimmed ochre and blue tones were used to create the second and background plans.
Sorbet (sorbetto) is a frozen dessert of fruit juices, sweetened water, and honey. It was popular in Naples. In 1775, the Neapolitan physician Filippo Baldini published a brochure, "De 'Sorbetti", in which he singled out fruit, chocolate, and milk sorts of this dessert. The milk dessert was also called il gelato, an ice cream.

Inscriptions

In the lower right corner, there is the author's signature Pinelli f. [fеcit]. In the centre of the engraving, under the image, is the work's title Venditore di Sorbetti, in Napoli. The number "44" is in the upper right corner above the plate.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Sorbet Seller in Naples

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