Lot Essay
The present drawing is one of the 104 sheets forming the series Divertimento per i Ragazzi ('Entertainment for Young People'), started in the late 1790s, when the artist was in his seventies, and on which he worked until his death in 1804.
The story is based on Punchinello, a figure from the commedia dell'Arte, which appeared in the late 17th Century in Naples and Rome and around the middle of the 18th Century in the carnival scenes in Venice. Giambattista began to use the figure of Punchinello around 1735-40, in the etching of Punchinello talking to Two Magicians from the Sherzi di Fantasia series (De V. 21; R. 12). While drawing the series, Domenico explored the theme of Punchinello from circa 1793-7 in frescoes at his villa at Zianigo, now transferred to Ca' Rezzonico, Venice, A. Mariuz, Giandomenico Tiepolo, Venice, 1971, p. 142, pls. 374-83. Although there seems to be no precise order to the series, Dr. Gealt agreed with James Byam Shaw that the drawings could be divided into five groups. They considered the present drawing as part of the first, concerned with Punchinello's ancestry, childhood and youthful amusements. In the second group Domenico is concerned with Punchinello's trades and occupations; the third deals with his adventures in foreign countries; the fourth with his social and official life; and the last with his illness and death, J. Byam Shaw op. cit, pp. 55-6. The numbering on the drawing of the series, according to Byam Shaw (op. cit., p. 56), is in a contemporary hand, and appears on other series, such as God the Father supported by Angels, (see lots 168 and 169).
Dr. Gealt pointed out (op. cit., p. 181) that the setting of the present drawing is the same as the one in The Infant Punchinello in Bed with his Parents, which is numbered 8 in the series. In the latter drawing the infant is not wearing a mask. The identity of the father in the present drawing is ambiguous: the Punchinello leaning over to look at the child displays as much paternal affection as the one on the far right. The scene depicted in the present drawing, numbered '9', seems to take place at a slightly later time than that of the preceeding drawing, numbered '8', showing more activity: the bed is being made, and a figure leaving is followed by a terrier, which appears in other drawings in the series, such as Punchinello's in a 'Malvasia', sold in these Rooms, 13 December 1984, lot 65, illustrated. The figures making the bed in the background of the present drawing have been repeated in the background of The Doctor's Visit, as first pointed out by Vetrocq, op. cit., p. 139. The watermark on the present drawing is the same as the one on The Burial of Punchinello, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, from the Robert Lehman Collection (J. Bean and F. Stampfle, Drawings from New York Collections III, The Eighteenth Century in Italy, exhib. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1971, no. 283, illustrated), with the watermark illustrated as no. 18.
The Nursing of Punchinello has been requested for the exhibition of drawings by Domenico Tiepolo to be held in Udine in September 1996.
The story is based on Punchinello, a figure from the commedia dell'Arte, which appeared in the late 17th Century in Naples and Rome and around the middle of the 18th Century in the carnival scenes in Venice. Giambattista began to use the figure of Punchinello around 1735-40, in the etching of Punchinello talking to Two Magicians from the Sherzi di Fantasia series (De V. 21; R. 12). While drawing the series, Domenico explored the theme of Punchinello from circa 1793-7 in frescoes at his villa at Zianigo, now transferred to Ca' Rezzonico, Venice, A. Mariuz, Giandomenico Tiepolo, Venice, 1971, p. 142, pls. 374-83. Although there seems to be no precise order to the series, Dr. Gealt agreed with James Byam Shaw that the drawings could be divided into five groups. They considered the present drawing as part of the first, concerned with Punchinello's ancestry, childhood and youthful amusements. In the second group Domenico is concerned with Punchinello's trades and occupations; the third deals with his adventures in foreign countries; the fourth with his social and official life; and the last with his illness and death, J. Byam Shaw op. cit, pp. 55-6. The numbering on the drawing of the series, according to Byam Shaw (op. cit., p. 56), is in a contemporary hand, and appears on other series, such as God the Father supported by Angels, (see lots 168 and 169).
Dr. Gealt pointed out (op. cit., p. 181) that the setting of the present drawing is the same as the one in The Infant Punchinello in Bed with his Parents, which is numbered 8 in the series. In the latter drawing the infant is not wearing a mask. The identity of the father in the present drawing is ambiguous: the Punchinello leaning over to look at the child displays as much paternal affection as the one on the far right. The scene depicted in the present drawing, numbered '9', seems to take place at a slightly later time than that of the preceeding drawing, numbered '8', showing more activity: the bed is being made, and a figure leaving is followed by a terrier, which appears in other drawings in the series, such as Punchinello's in a 'Malvasia', sold in these Rooms, 13 December 1984, lot 65, illustrated. The figures making the bed in the background of the present drawing have been repeated in the background of The Doctor's Visit, as first pointed out by Vetrocq, op. cit., p. 139. The watermark on the present drawing is the same as the one on The Burial of Punchinello, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, from the Robert Lehman Collection (J. Bean and F. Stampfle, Drawings from New York Collections III, The Eighteenth Century in Italy, exhib. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1971, no. 283, illustrated), with the watermark illustrated as no. 18.
The Nursing of Punchinello has been requested for the exhibition of drawings by Domenico Tiepolo to be held in Udine in September 1996.