Rijksmuseum

De ontdekking van het graf van Pulcinella

Date

in or before c. 1750

Medium

paper

Culture

Italy

Institution

Rijksmuseum

How can Pulcinella’s grave be discovered? After all, Pulcinella is a stock character in the commedia dell’ arte, the improvised Italian theatre. As such he does not actually exist, yet he is nevertheless immortal. However, everything is possible in the world that sprang from Tiepolo’s mind, and so he lies buried here (right foreground). The bone and hourglass emphasize that Pulcinella is also just a human, who has died.

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