Punchinello gives counsel

Giambattista Tiepolo
Italy
1696 – 1770

Punchinello gives counsel
from the series Scherzi di Fantasia
c 1743-57; published 1775
etching on paper
Place made
Venice, Italy
Medium
etching on paper
Dimensions
23.3 x 18.3 cm (plate & sheet)
Credit line
A.R. Ragless Bequest Fund 1975
Accession number
757G40
Signature and date
Signed in plate "BT" in monogram [the B in reverse]. Not dated.
Catalogue raisonne
De Vesme 21 i/ii; Rizzi (1971) 12 i/ii
Media category
Print
Collection area
European prints

  • WALL LABEL: A Beautiful Line: Italian prints from Mantegna to Piranesi, 2012

     

    The interpretation of Tiepolo’s prints has been debated by scholars. Some have argued that the Scherzi di Fantasia are improvised and unpremeditated, while others have interpreted the series as an exploration of magic, in particular Gnosticism, the belief system feared by Christians for its blasphemous practices. Although Tiepolo used certain iconographic elements popular in printmaking since the Renaissance, the subject of the series is without precedent.

     

    Maria Zagala, Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs

  • Italian Old Master Prints from the Collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia

    Art Gallery of South Australia, 11 March 1983 – 15 May 1983

  • Impressioni Italiane: Etchings, Engravings & Woodcuts from the Renaissance to the Rococo

    Art Gallery of South Australia, 2 November 1991 – 2 February 1992

  • A beautiful line. Italian prints from Mantegna to Piranesi

    Art Gallery of South Australia, 20 August 2010 – 31 October 2010

  • Five Centuries of Genius: European Master Printmaking

    Art Gallery of South Australia, 5 May 2000 – 2 October 2000
  • [Book] de Vesme, Alexandre. 1906. Le peintre-graveur italien: ouvrage faisant suite au Peintre-graveur de Bartsch.
  • [Book] Rizzi, Aldo. 1971. The Etchings of the Tiepolo's.
  • [Book] Agnew, Thomas. 1975. Master Drawings and Prints.
  • [Book] Gill, Meredith. 1983. Italian Old Master Prints from the Collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia.
  • [Book] Robinson, Julie. 2000. Five Centuries of Genius: European Master Printmaking.
  • [Book] Zagala, Maria. 2010. A Beautiful Line : Italian prints from Mantegna to Piranesi.