Description Medium: Etching on hand laid (verge) paper. Sheet size: 42 x 27 cm (16.54 x 10.63 inch). Image size: 31 x 20 cm. (12.2 x 7.87 inch). Condition: very good, given age. Light foxing, creasing, and soiling. Wide margins. Minor corner wear. Impression strong and clear. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Please study scan carefully. PINELLI, DANCING BEAR, BEAR TAMER, ITALIAN STREET PERFORMANCE, 1809, ROME, FOLK SPECTACLE, GENRE PRINT, COSTUMI PITTORESCHI BACKGROUND INFORMATION From: ‘Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi’, 1809. Biography engraver: Bartolomeo Pinelli (Rome, November 20, 1781 – Rome, April 1, 1835) was an Italian engraver, painter and ceramist. An extremely prolific graphic artist, it has recently been estimated that he has produced around four thousand etchings and ten thousand drawings. In his prints he illustrated the costumes of the Italian peoples, the great masterpieces of literature: Virgil, Dante, Tasso, Ariosto, Cervantes, Manzoni, and subjects of Roman, Greek, Napoleonic history, etc. The most recurring theme in general is Rome, its inhabitants, its monuments, the ancient city and the one that is contemporary to him. He had among his pupils the well-known portrait painter from Gorizia Giuseppe Tominz. In addition to its intrinsic artistic value, his work as an illustrator has a significant documentary significance for the ethnography of Rome, Italy and Switzerland.
