About this artwork
Between 1797 and his death in 1804, Domenico Tiepolo created 104 inventive wash drawings for what he called Divertimenti per li ragazzi (diversions for children). This series described the life, from birth to death, of the tragicomic commedia dell’arte figure Punchinello (identified by his conical hat and beaked mask), in a loosely structured tale of an everyman.
In Punchinello Collapses on the Road, we see the protagonist, surrounded by eleven of his companions and three lamenting women, in the final days before his death. While Punchinello is indeed a kind of everyman, Tiepolo also made references throughout the series to the life of Christ. This drawing calls to mind one of Christ’s falls as he carried the cross.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo
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Title
- Punchinello Collapses on the Road
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Origin
- Italy
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Date
- 1791
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Medium
- Pen and brown ink and brush and brown washes, over traces of charcoal, on off-white laid paper, with framing lines in pen and brown ink
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Inscriptions
- Signed, lower right, brown ink: "Domo Tiepolo"; inscribed, lower right, graphite: "14"; inscribed, upper left, brown ink: "13"; inscribed, upper left, graphite: "O"
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Dimensions
- 360 × 475 mm
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Credit Line
- Gift of Richard and Mary L. Gray
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Reference Number
- 2019.869
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/244915/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
