Back

Cerbara Costumes

Bartolomeo Pinelli

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-1746
Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name: Cerbara Costumes
Date of creation: 1816
Technique: etching watercolour
Material: paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 10.2 x 16.2

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 Roman series. The first version of the composition is known from the album Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi (Collection of Fifty Picturesque Costumes), published in 1809. The second version of the composition in a slightly modified form is known from the album Costumi di Tivoli, issued in 1815. In the first two versions, the author paid more attention to details in the image of figures and architectural fragments. The third version, representing a black and white engraving, was similar to the Lviv composition. It was issued in the album Nuova Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi (New Collection of Fifty Picturesque Costumes), published by Giovanni Scudellari in Rome in 1817. In 1826, Roman graphic artist Ferrari Filipo used the engraving by B. Pinelli to depict the image of a woman from Cerbara. The Lviv version belongs to the third simpler version. In the foreground, one can see four figures: two women, a child, and a young shepherd. One of the women is standing on the right, with a jar of water on her head and her arms crossed over her chest; the other is sitting on a rock on the left; she also has a jar of water. A small girl approached her, willing to drink some water. The young man sits nearby, leaning on a stick and looking at a young mother and daughter. To the right of the stone reservoir, one can see a stream depicted in more detail in the previous versions of the engraving. The women wear bright national clothes. One woman is dressed in a colourful yellow and blue dress with an ornamented apron and a long blue skirt. A white flattop headscarf is on her head; on her feet are ciocie. The other woman is wearing the same headscarf, a dress, and a crimson skirt. The girl is dressed in a yellow skirt. The boy is wearing a blue jacket and red trousers; he has a hat on his head. The background with a mountain range, a fragment of the city and trees is presented in blurred blue and green tones.
Cerbara is a place in the Marche region (formerly part of the Papal States), northeast of Rome.

Inscriptions

In the lower right corner, there 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, Costume di Cerbara. The number "37" is in the upper right corner above the plate.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Cerbara Costumes

Other