A carnival scene in Rome around Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Triton fountain, Piazza Barberini

Pinelli depicted various scenes of the Carnival in Rome throughout his career. Large watercolor drawings such as the present one were intended as finished works to be sold to collectors. The present sheet can be compared to a similar watercolor of 1820 in Rome in the Museo di Roma depicting the Carnival in Rome at San Carlo al Corso, which was also reproduced in print (Bartolomeo Pinelli, exhib. cat., Rome, Palazzo Braschi, 1956, no. 153, ill.). Two further examples of Carnival scenes, each dated 1826, are published in M. Fagiolo and M. Marini, Bartolomeo Pinelli 1781-1835 e il suo tempo, exhib. cat., Rome, Galleria Rondanini, 1983, nos.133 and 134, ill.). Pinelli does not fail to include in the background of the scene the beautiful detail of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Triton fountain in Piazza Barberini.