Concert ticket "For the Benefit of Mr. Giardini." Engraved by Francesco Bartolozzi (1728-1815) after a drawing by G. B. Cipriani (1727-1785)
[London]: 4th February, 1780.
Etching with engraving. Sheet size 122 x 104 mm.
A young woman sits on a pedestal touching a lyre on a table with her left hand and holding a quill in her right, turned, looking towards a putto who stands behind her. Cupid is seated on floor at the right holding an arrow, covering his face with hands.
Slightly worn; trimmed within platemark,
British Museum Online Catalogue C, 3.11 (state before title and printer's name). Calabi & De Vesme: Catalogue of Engravings by Bartolozzi, 1923.
"Giardini settled to a career of solo violin playing (saying later that he had given up the harpsichord after hearing the playing of Mme de St Maur, a pupil of Rameau), and he left Italy to begin a concert tour of Europe. After great success in Berlin, he came to England by way of France, making his first public appearance at a benefit for the aging Cuzzoni on 27 April 1751. The enthusiastic reception, amplified by the support of such aristocrats as Mrs Fox Lane (Lady Bingley), soon established him with the English public." Christopher Hogwood and Simon McVeigh in Grove Music Online. Burney considered Giardini one of the greatest performers in Europe.
Cipriani was a noted Italian painter and engraver, many of whose drawings were engraved Bartolozzi.
Item #41157
Price: $300.00 other currencies