Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

A festive crowd dances outside a barn while a group plays music in the background. Two masked figures in distinctive conical hats stand out among the revelers: they wear the costume of Pulcinella, a traditional character of Italian popular comedy theater. This drawing in pen and wash belonged to a series of more than 100 works Tiepolo made to amuse himself and members of his family. The slightly surreal juxtaposition of the lowly character with the aristocratic company is typical of Tiepolo’s humorous, enigmatic, and somewhat nostalgic depictions of everyday life in Venice and its surrounding countryside.