Putti Bacchanal n.d.

Curator: Look at this sketch, “Putti Bacchanal,” attributed to Carlo Amalfi. The artwork, a print and drawing on paper, lives at the Art Institute of Chicago and is undated, yet showcases a delightful genre scene. What's your initial take on it? Editor: It’s ethereal! The figures are so lightly sketched, it's as though we are witnessing a fleeting vision. I wonder about Amalfi's choice of such delicate materials for this Bacchic revelry; a contrast with the intensity of the subject. Curator: Interesting point about the tension. The Bacchic theme, referencing the Roman god Bacchus associated with wine, ecstasy, and theatre, speaks to an artistic fascination with classical antiquity. These scenes, celebrating festivity and freedom, provided an opportunity for artists like Amalfi to explore the aesthetic potential of rendering movement and emotion in a period dominated by Academic art. Editor: True, but the materiality adds another layer. Was this preparatory? Or did the artist seek to question conventional "high" art? By using the relatively common materials of pencil and paper he is inviting a broader audience and pushing against the elite consumption of art at the time. It appears almost unfinished. Curator: Possibly. Academic art placed great value on preliminary sketches as part of the creative process. Consider how the sketch highlights his study of the human form; see how light and shadow play across the figures? Editor: I do. And how this echoes the way "process" and "labor" were treated at the time! The drawing medium lets us intimately peer into Amalfi's hand, his creative methodology, but it also brings forward this very important tension: how does art emerge from its physical means? Curator: Indeed. It is through that lens that we can begin to grasp its artistic intention, social and cultural milieu, and place in the history of artistic representation. Editor: Well said! "Putti Bacchanal" reveals that it is not just the imagery that counts but the hand and materials of its making. It really causes you to reflect on what makes the ordinary, extraordinary.