A Young Woman Buying a Pink from a Young Man
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta was celebrated for his finished drawings of saints, portraits, and teste di carattere (character heads). Cleveland’s sheet belongs to the latter genre, which describes portraits embellished with props to suggest a character type or types. Here, Piazzetta united three independent studies of individuals into a single scene, in which a young woman appears to purchase a pink—a type of flower related to the carnation—from a boy with a second young woman looking on.The image bristles with tantalizing narrative potential, but it is left to the viewer to interpret the sc...
Details
- Palette
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Select a color to find related artworks.
- Dimensions
- sheet: height 0.427 m, width 0.549 m
- Origin
- Italy, Venice
- Department
- Drawings
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Art Genome Taxonomy
10 tags
Subject Matter
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Human Figure Both · 99%
Three human figures are visibly grouped on the sheet, and the catalog identifies them as a young man and two young women.
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Figure Studies Metadata · 95%
The Cleveland Museum of Art describes the work as three independent character-head studies united into a single composition.
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Implied Narrative Both · 97%
The figures are organized around an apparent flower exchange, and the catalog explicitly notes the scene's narrative potential while leaving its interpretation open.
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Flora Both · 93%
A cluster of flowers is clearly visible in the lower-left portion of the image; the catalog identifies the flower as a pink, related to the carnation.
Visual Qualities
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Dense Composition Visual · 92%
The three closely overlapping figures form a compressed cluster with interlocking heads, shoulders, arms, and clothing, despite some open paper above them.
Medium and Techniques
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Drawing Metadata · 99%
The work is classified by the museum as a drawing, executed in black crayon and white chalk.
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Work on Paper Metadata · 99%
The medium is specified as black crayon and white chalk on faded blue paper, and the dimensions are recorded as those of a sheet.
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Chiaroscuro Both · 92%
Broad dark tonal masses contrast with lighter chalk accents, while the catalog specifically describes dense modeling and velvety shadow produced by wetting and rubbing the crayon.
Time Periods
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18th Century Art Metadata · 98%
The catalog dates the work to circa 1740, within the stated range of 1735–1745.
Geographic Regions
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Italian Art Metadata · 97%
The artist is identified as Italian and the place of origin as Venice, Italy.
Source & rights
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (Italian, 1682–1754). A Young Woman Buying a Pink from a Young Man. Cleveland Museum of Art.