 |
| Click Image to Enlarge I Burattini After Maggiotto, 1760-1770 The British Museum |
Housed in the British Museum’s Italian Masters Portfolio, this drawing is titled “I Burattini” (The Puppets) and is also referred to as “Le Arti Per Via” (The Street Arts). The drawing dates between 1760 and 1770 and was made for a print by Giovanni Volpato after a work by Francesco Maggiotto. It’s one of a series of twelve, each of which focuses on the various street trades of Eighteenth Century Venice.
Puppetry was an important street art and Pulcinella shows, like the Punch and Judy Shows of the Nineteenth Century in Britain, were an integral communication device. The tradition of Punch’s Italian ancestor, Pulcinella, is depicted here as a young puppet master retreats from his booth. His “bottler,” the fellow tasked with drumming (sometimes literally) up crowds is a blind fiddler.
No comments:
Post a Comment