Lot 222
**Originally listed at 200**
Europe, Italy, Carlo Gregori (1719-1759) after Giuseppe Zocci (1711-1767), "Veduta della Chiesa e Piazza di S. Croce con al festa del Calcio, fatta l'anno 1738 alla Real presenza de Regnanti Sovrani" etching on paper, 1738 CE. Vedute (highly detailed scenes or vistas) like this example were purchased by visitors to Italy as a special memento of their travels. Zocchis images are appreciated for the endearing human activities he depicted in the Italian neighborhoods and piazzas of his title. Upon close examination the viewer will find sweet vignettes such as dogs greeting one other, couples flirting, even individuals in the foreground climbing over one another to view the match beyond. Zocchi worked under the patronage of Marchese Andrea Gerini, who oversaw his training and commissioned the Scelta di XXIV vedute delle principali contrade, piazze, chiese e palazzi della città di Firenze (first published in 1744, reissued in 1754 and 1757). Size: plate measures 12.625" L x 17.25" W (32.1 cm x 43.8 cm); sheet 14.75" L x 18.25" W (37.5 cm x 46.4 cm)
On the lower border of the plate is the title and names of the creators: Giuseppe Zocci, artist (left) and Carlo Gregori, engraver (right). The number 186 is written in ink on the upper right corner.
The artist Giuseppe Zocchi was the most important contributor to Florentine vedute painting. He sojourned in Venice between 1739 and 1741, which was foundational to his training. In 1740 he was chosen to create frescoes for Gabriello Riccardi. In 1754, Zocchi became the painter for a laboratory of semi-precious stones, and created the designs for more than sixty pictures produced by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure. In addition to being an engraver, Zocchi was a book illustrator. His drawn views of Florence produced by the press of the Florentine printer Giuseppe Allegrini were commissioned and financed by the Marquis Andrea Gerini, and dedicated to Maria Teresa of Austria. According to C. Danielson, his series was designed to "set before the eyes of curious observers, especially foreign, the most noble and charming views". It was so successful that it became a prototype for other projects undertaken in Rome, Venice and other European cities. (C. Danielson, L'iconografia storica del palazzo, in Il Palazzo Medici Riccardi di Firenze, edited by G. Cherubini and G. Fanelli, Firenze, Giunti, 1990, p. 299.)
The game depicted, called Calcio fiorentino, or calcio storico, is among the many predecessors of what is now known as European football or soccer. According to Giovanni Battista Falda, "Calcio (also the modern Italian word for the game currently being played in Brazil) may trace its roots back to Roman harpastum and earlier Greek games, although these classical games seem to share few elements with the modern iteration besides the vying of teams for control of a ball. The Renaissance Italian version was documented by Giovanni de Bardi in 1580. Bardis handbook to the game was reprinted throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and it outlines the basics of the game: twenty-seven players per team, played between January and March, and the basic roles of different positions on the field (rushers, ball-keepers, interferers, strikers, and so on)."
As we see in this piece, the game was usually a game for wealthy nobles. What's more, early editions of Bardi's work show the game played in Florences Piazza di Santa Croce, as see in Zocci's image. Here is a charming description of the game as written by Bardi, "Calcio is a public game, of two teams of young men, on foot and unarmed, who, in an affable manner and for the sake of honor, contend to pass an inflated ball from the posta (on one end of the middle-line) forward to the opposite goal. The field where it takes place should be a main square of a city so that the noble ladies and the people can better stand and see the game.
Provenance: Ex-Denenberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA.
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#121689
- Condition: Minor folds, creases, marks, and tiny losses to borders. Image is in excellent condition.
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