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Group of Idlers Playing Zecchinetta in Rome

Bartolomeo Pinelli

  • Group of Idlers Playing Zecchinetta in Rome 2
  • Group of Idlers Playing Zecchinetta in Rome 3
Basic information
ID
Г-IV-1713
Author
Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name
Group of Idlers Playing Zecchinetta in Rome
Date of creation
1816
Technique
etching watercolour
Material
paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
9.9 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
In the first version of the composition Comitiva di oziosi, giocando alla Zecchinetta, in Roma, which Bartolomeo Pinelli performed for the album Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi (Collection of Fifty Picturesque Costumes) published in 1809, the author paid special attention to the architectural background (the main thing for the artist was that the event took place in Rome). The players and spectators were depicted sitting and standing with their backs or sides turned to the viewers; without a caption text, it was unclear what they were doing. In the simplified version (without the Roman architectural background) presented in the Lviv collection, the main attention is paid to the players and the deck of cards. This etching painted with watercolours has been known since 1816. It was issued in the album Nuova Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi incisi di acqua forte (New Collection of Fifty Picturesque Costumes), published in Rome in 1817. This composition is from a series of Roman entertainments. In front of the brick wall are six young men captured by playing zecchinetta. The central character opened the deck of cards in a semicircle. The other characters sit, stand, and lie beside each other, looking intently at the deck of cards accentuated by pink stripes on a grey background. The composition is dynamic; the drawing is light and relaxed. The engraving is painted with watercolours, with prevailing dimmed grey, ocher, black, and accents of bright red, blue, green, and yellow.
Zecchinetta (Italian: zecchinetta, French: lansquenet, German: landsknecht) is a card game played in Italy since the 16th century. The name comes from the Italianized form of "landsknechts", the military mercenaries who popularized gambling in the 17th century during the Thirty Years' War.
Inscriptions
In the lower left corner, there is the painter's signature Pinelli f. [fecit], the date 1816, and the place of painting – Rome. In the centre of the engraving, under the image, is the work's title Comitiva di oziosi, giocando alla Zecchinetta, in Roma. The number "14" is in the upper right corner of the engraving above the plate.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

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