Back

Woman from Piedimonte d'Alife in the Province of Terra di Lavoro in the Kingdom of Naples

Bartolomeo Pinelli

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-1703
Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name: Woman from Piedimonte d'Alife in the Province of Terra di Lavoro in the Kingdom of Naples
Date of creation: 1816
Country: Poland Italy
Technique: etching watercolour
Material: paper
Dimensions: 10 x 16.1 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: genre art
Provenance: Collection of Faina Tarashchanska (Lviv), 1966

Information about author

Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Author in the original: 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 known in a version of 1816, which was issued in the album called 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 by Giovanni Scudellari in Rome in 1817. The work was based on the graphic work of 1791 by the Neapolitan artist Alessandro d'Anna, which is now preserved in the Museo Nazionale di San Martino. Alessandro d'Anna died in 1810, and his works became available to Bartolomeo Pinelli. The artist made a copy after the composition by Alessandro d'Anna. However, the image of a woman in B. Pinelli's work is more refined, in contrast to the bulky woman painted by the Neapolitan artist. The author depicted a noble lady with a headdress, in luxurious clothes, and with a necklace on her neck. A little girl walking beside her is depicted in the same expensive clothes. There is a city fragment with a tall tower in the background. Depicted on the engraving is the city of Piedimonte d'Alifo (d'Alife), located deep in the province of Terra di Lavoro (now the province of Campania). The people's clothing is painted with bright colours, while the trees, shrubs, and the distant views – with dimmed ones.

Inscriptions

In the lower right corner, there is the author's signature Pinelli and the date 1816. In the centre of the engraving, under the image, is the work's title Donna di Piedimonte d'Alifo, della Provincia di Terra di Lavoro nel Regno di Napoli. The number "4" is in the upper right corner above the image.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Woman from Piedimonte d'Alife in the Province of Terra di Lavoro in the Kingdom of Naples

Other