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Man and Woman from the Village of Gioja in the Province of Aquilla in Upper Abruzzo

Bartolomeo Pinelli

  • Man and Woman from the Village of Gioja in the Province of Aquilla in Upper Abruzzo 2
  • Man and Woman from the Village of Gioja in the Province of Aquilla in Upper Abruzzo 3
Basic information
ID
Г-IV-1711
Author
Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name
Man and Woman from the Village of Gioja in the Province of Aquilla in Upper Abruzzo
Date of creation
1816
Technique
etching watercolour
Material
paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
10.1 x 16.1
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 composition was inspired by the engraving by Alessandro d'Anna, a Neapolitan artist who sketched characters in traditional folk costumes from the mountain hinterland of central Italy in the 1790s. The first version of this composition by Bartolomeo Pinelli was issued in the album Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi li più interessanti delle città, terre e paesi in provincie 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 in Rome in 1814. The album was republished later in 1817. The Lviv composition is horizontal in contrast to the above-mentioned etching in a square frame. In the foreground, there is a young woman with a basket. She is clothed in a national dress of a noblewoman of southern Italy, namely in a luxurious apron embroidered in gold and put on a blue and yellow dress with cuffs; she has a double headscarf on her head, an openwork collar of a blouse, and elegant shoes. The boy, whom the woman met on the road, is dressed in simple but solid clothes; in his hand, he holds a basket with a wind instrument; there is a bag on his shoulder (perhaps he is a birdcatcher attracting the birds with the sounds of a reed pipe). The action takes place against the backdrop of the hills, where the fortress tower can be seen through the green trees. The characters are painted with bright watercolours, with prevailing yellow, blue, and red.
Inscriptions
In the upper left corner, there is the author's signature Pinelli and the date 1816. In the centre of the engraving, under the image, there is the work's title Uomo, e Donna del Paese di Gioja, provicia Aquilla, Abruzzo Ultra. The number "12" is in the upper right corner of the engraving above the plate.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

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