Cleveland Museum of Art

The Game of Bowls

Giovanni Domenico TiepoloLinkedCulture matchlcp-a2b8d9c6264a

Date: 1797–1804
Medium: pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash, over traces of black chalk; framing lines in brown ink over graphite on antique laid paper
Culture: Italy, 18th century
Department: Drawings
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 117026

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

Here, Punchinello characters sporting their signature conical hats and hooked-nosed masks compete against a group of men in a lively game of bocce,an Italian bowling game . While their exaggerated movements infuse the drawing with a sense of whimsy, the massive prison fortress behind them suggests surveillance and control. Although not overtly political, this detail may allude to Venice’s fall to the French in 1797, which led to a ban on the commedia dell’arte, Italy’s popular theater tradition with its mocking Punchinellos. This drawing is part of a larger series that depicts the life of Punchinello, a clown-like character derived from Italian popular theater.

View at Cleveland Museum of Art ↗

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page

See at Cleveland Museum of Art

Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Provenance: [Sotheby's, London, 6 July 1920, lot 41]; [Colnaghi & Co.]; Richard Owen, Paris (all Udine & Bloomington, 1996, p. 216, no. 155; see departmental card for 1937.569). Italico Brass, Venice (according to departmental card)

Part of a LinkedCulture topic

European Edged Weapons Collection
These objects are all European swords, daggers, and bladed weapons from the medieval and early modern periods, showcasing the arms and armor traditions across the continent.
336 objects from 4 institutions