Drie figuren in een wijngaard Possibly 1776

Francesco Bartolozzi made this etching, Drie figuren in een wijngaard, in 1776. It shows a melodramatic scene, likely drawn from popular theater, of an emotional encounter in a vineyard. The print was published in London, as the print line below the image indicates. Bartolozzi was an Italian engraver who spent much of his career in London, where he produced prints after fashionable painters for a growing consumer market. The circular format suggests this print was part of a series, meant to be displayed as decoration in a domestic interior. The vineyard setting and the names "Lauretta" and "Laurette" inscribed below the image point to the influence of French pastoral romance. The vineyard signifies a connection to the land, which at this time was often shorthand for virtue, sincerity, and emotional authenticity. To understand this print better, one could research the popular theater and literature of late 18th-century London, as well as the history of the print market and the decorative arts. The meaning of this image is contingent on its place in the social and institutional context of its time.