1785

Title Page from Le arti che vanno per via nella città di Venezia (Venice: John Strange, 1785)

Italian, 1700 - 1778

Gaetano Zompini's album documenting itinerant tradesmen in Venice was first published in 1753 and reissued many times after his death. The prints show the industrious working class of Venice, from street sweepers to flower sellers to bakers, in a manner that is especially sympathetic. Here a lantern bearer lights the way for a masked man and woman. Members of Venetian society often wore masks during the Carnival season, which in the eighteenth century lasted nearly six months. Although all classes could participate, certain costumes, such as the bautta (consisting of a mask with a pointed nose, black cape, and tricorn hat) worn by the man in this print, were reserved for the nobility.