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Watermelon Sellers in Naples

Bartolomeo Pinelli

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-1756
Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name: Watermelon Sellers in Naples
Date of creation: 1817
Technique: etching watercolour
Material: paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 10.3 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 composition is from the Neapolitan series. In 1815, B. Pinelli performed the engraving Il Cocommeraro, known from the album Nuova Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi… (New Collection of Fifty Picturesque Costumes) dated 1815. The author has significantly changed the Lviv version of this composition. Another version of this composition is similar to the Lviv one, which depicts more characters and is performed in a square frame (the exact year is not defined). It is a foreground composition. A seller of watermelons is depicted at the table in the centre of the engraving; he is inviting buyers, raising his hands with a watermelon cut in half. He is wearing a light shirt with a red vest and long blue pants; he has a red cap on his head. His assistant is depicted at the table on the left. He is cutting the next watermelon with a large knife. He wears the same light shirt, red pants, and a black hat. There are watermelon buyers in front of the table, namely a young mother enjoying the watermelon taste. Her child is depicted next to her; a boy is stretching out his hands for the watermelon as he wants to taste it, too. The woman is dressed in a traditional blue Neapolitan vest with a yellow edging and a long crimson skirt; her head is covered with a long headscarf. The boy is wearing yellow clothing. On the right are two more consumers of sweet berries: a teenage girl in a blue skirt; a red headscarf is thrown on her shoulders, and she is girded with a broad yellow belt. There is a man next to her; he has a bag over his shoulder; he is wearing a hat, a blue jacket, red pants, and white stockings. He has a horn and a flask on his belt. Three rows of cut-in-half watermelons are displayed on the shelves to the right. A picture is hanging on an improvised gallows above them; it depicts two people rolling a huge watermelon. The composition is bright and saturated with warm colours, among which the crimson colour dominates.

Inscriptions

In the lower left corner, there is the author's signature Pinelli, written in italics, date – 1817, and the place of performance – Roma (illegibly). In the centre of the engraving, under the image, is the work's title Il Melonaro é Cocommeraro, in Napoli. The number "45" is in the upper right corner above the plate.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Watermelon Sellers in Naples

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