Back

Pasta Seller in Naples

Bartolomeo Pinelli

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-1716
Author: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Name: Pasta Seller in Naples
Date of creation: 1810s
Country: Italy
Technique: etching watercolour
Material: paper
Dimensions: 10.1 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 first version of the engraving is unknown. Presumably, the Lviv version is dated back to 1816. The composition is from the Neapolitan series. The action in the foreground takes place on the Bay of Naples coast with Vesuvius in the distance. The chef is cooking steamed pasta in an oven and treating it to three boys, who are eating it with pleasure, using only their hands and teeth, sucking long pasta noodles with their mouths. This is a typical Neapolitan scene where locals eat their favourite traditional dish. The characters' clothing is painted with bright watercolours, with prevailing red, blue, and yellow.

Inscriptions

The author's signature is missing. In the center of the engraving, under the image, there is the work's title Venditore di Массаroni, in Napoli. The number "16" is in the upper right corner above the plate.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Pasta Seller in Naples

Other