Twee halve cartouches 1644 - 1718

Giuseppe Maria Mitelli made this drawing of two partial cartouches in pen in ink around 1700 in Italy. Cartouches like these were decorative frames used in architecture, painting, and sculpture to highlight inscriptions or coats of arms. Mitelli’s drawing gives us insight into the artistic conventions of his time. Ornamentation played a crucial role in defining status and power. Patrons, often from the aristocracy or the Church, commissioned elaborate cartouches to showcase their lineage and authority. Artists like Mitelli helped to meet this demand. Looking at the institutional history of art education in Italy at the time, we find that artists trained in academies learned to produce these kinds of drawings. These institutions reinforced existing social hierarchies by training artists to produce imagery that would be understood by elite patrons and also reinforce their power. To fully understand this drawing, we can consult period pattern books, architectural treatises, and social histories. By doing so, we can better understand the social and institutional context in which the work was made.