Gallery Title
Gallery Title
Children Playing 'a Cappelletto'
Accession Number NWHCM : 1937.39.7
Description
Drawing, 'Children Playing 'a Cappelletto'' by Giuseppe Maria Crespi (prev attrib Murillo) (1665-1747), red chalk on paper, undated; 15.9 cm x 14.6 cm; inscription in red chalk reverse upper right '1118'; inscription in red chalk reverse lower right '14?'; inscription in brown ink (?) 'B G Murillo'; mark marked lower left in lozenge collector's mark 'RL (for Col R. Lamponi, second half 19th century, of Florence (see Lugt, no.1760)'; mark watermark star in circle, circle inside star
Read MoreChildren Playing 'a Cappelletto'
Giuseppe Maria Crespi, a late Baroque painter from Bologna, was one of the first Italian artists to specialise in scenes of everyday life. This drawing shows children playing a gambling game known as a cappelletto, similar to 'heads or tails', on a pavement. It involved shaking coins or tokens inside a hat ('cappello' in Italian) and was considered an unsophisticated game of the lower classes. Crespi made an etching from this drawing, probably in the early 1730s.