Italian school (XVIII) - Square Show with the Mountebank

Italian school (XVIII) - Square Show with the Mountebank.

74.5 x 62.5 cm (without frame) - 86 x 73.5 cm (with frame).

Oil on canvas, in a gilded wooden frame.

The scene depicts a lively square performance attended by a mixed crowd of townspeople, soldiers, and onlookers gathered around a makeshift stage. At its centre, a figure in quasi-military dress, tricorn hat, blue coat, and gold-trimmed red waistcoat, gestures emphatically before a large white drape hung as a backdrop. Beside him, a second figure in green holds a live animal, most likely a dog, while on the right a man on horseback enters the scene. The composition, densely populated and constructed on several spatial planes, is handled with the ease characteristic of eighteenth-century genre painting from the Venetian or Lombard tradition, with lively attention to the characterisation of popular types and the rendering of period costume. The subject belongs to a well-established iconographic tradition of the 1700s, from Tiepolo to Longhi, reflecting bourgeois interest in scenes of everyday life and popular entertainment.

Condition report: Original canvas. Good state of conservation of the pictorial surface, with signs of ageing and wear.


This item is sold with a certificate of authenticity with legal validity.
- Further informations on the condition report are available upon request.
- All shipments are handled with professional packaging. The frame, if present, is to be understood as a gift and therefore its structural integrity during transport is not guaranteed.

Note for non-Italian buyers: This work has not yet obtained the certificate of free export from Italy, issued by the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage, which certifies that the work does not belong to the Italian cultural heritage and may therefore be freely exported. The regulations in force from 2026 provide for reduced processing times for works with a declared value below €50,000, at the discretion of the expert committee: typically 2-3 weeks from the submission of the request. All costs related to this procedure are included in the price.

Rendering Disclaimer: Lifestyle images are AI-generated for illustrative purposes only and may not accurately reflect the actual proportions of the work.