Varie figure gobbi di Iacopo Callot (Cripple with a hood)

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FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

This image was published by Callot in 1621 as part of a series of 21 prints depicting gobbi (people with curved backs). The series was titled Varie figure gobbi di Jacopo Callot fatto in Firenza l'anno 1616 (Various hunchbacks by Jacopo Callot, made in Florence in 1616). The figures in the series are reminiscent of character tropes that were popular in the theatrical genre known as the commedia dell’arte (comedy of the profession). As the name suggests, the comedy of this genre was predicated on the assumption that the viewer occupied a different social class than the characters depicted.

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