The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 23, 2025

The Game of Bowls

1797–1804

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

(Italian, 1727–1804)
Italy, 18th century
pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash, over traces of black chalk; framing lines in brown ink over graphite on antique laid paper
Image: 29.7 x 41.6 cm (11 11/16 x 16 3/8 in.); Sheet: 35.5 x 47.3 cm (14 x 18 5/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1937.571
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This drawing is part of a larger series that depicts the life of Punchinello, a clown-like character derived from Italian popular theater.

Description

Here, Punchinello characters sporting their signature conical hats and hooked-nosed masks compete against a group of men in a lively game of bocce,an Italian bowling game. While their exaggerated movements infuse the drawing with a sense of whimsy, the massive prison fortress behind them suggests surveillance and control. Although not overtly political, this detail may allude to Venice’s fall to the French in 1797, which led to a ban on the commedia dell’arte, Italy’s popular theater tradition with its mocking Punchinellos.
  • [Sotheby's, London, 6 July 1920, lot 41]; [Colnaghi & Co.]; Richard Owen, Paris (all Udine & Bloomington, 1996, p. 216, no. 155; see departmental card for 1937.569). Italico Brass, Venice (according to departmental card)
  • Francis, Henry. "Six Drawings from the Life of Pulcinella by the younger Tiepolo." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 26, no. 4 (April 1938): 46-49. Mentioned: p. 48; Reproduced: p. 51 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 575 archive.org
  • Imagination in the Age of Reason. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 28, 2024-March 2, 2025).
    Comicity and Caricature in Tiepolo's Art. Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy (September 3-December 5, 2004).
    Domenico Tiepolo: Master Draftsman. Civici Musei e Gallerie di Storia ed Arte, Castello, Udine (September 14-December 31, 1996); Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, IN (January 15-March 9, 1997).
    Venice as City and Theater. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-April 21, 1985).
    The Tiepolos and Their World. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 6-November 22, 1981).
    Domenico Tiepolo's Punchinello Drawings. Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, IN (organizer) (September 2-October 6, 1979); Stanford University Museum of Art, Stanford, CA (November 13-December 30, 1979); Frick Collection, New York, NY (January 22-March 30, 1980).
    Italian Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-March 26, 1968).
    Italian and French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 1959-February 2, 1960).
    Baltimore Museum of Art, The Age of Elegance: Rococo and Its Effect (Apr. 25-June 14, 1959), no. 223.
    Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959).
    CMA, "End of Continuous Exhibition of CMA Old Master Drawings in Director's Corridor in Old Bldg." (closed Mar. 13, 1957).
    CMA, installed, director's corridor (Oct. 19, 1954).
    Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Five Centuries of Drawings (Oct. 15-Nov. 15, 1953), no. 67.
    CMA, "Drawings from the Collection" (rearranged: Jan. 21, 1953).
    CMA, "Drawings from the Collection" (June 30-Dec. 8, 1950; rehung Jan. 8, 1951, "with small changes").
    CMA, "Drawings from the Collection" (May. 14, 1946- ).
    CMA, "Drawings from the Collection" (July 27, 1944- ).
    CMA, "Paintings and Drawings from the Collection" (Dec. 14, 1943-Jan. 4, 1944).
    CMA (hung Oct. 13, 1940).
    San Francisco?, Golden Gate International Exposition (May 25-Sep. 29, 1940), no. 499.--NOTE: from Reg. file: "in a separate cat., "Master Drawings," this is no. 100 (illus.)--publ. Art News (20 May 1939)"--
    CMA (Mar. 12-Apr. 21, 1940).
    CMA, "Life of Pulcinella" Series (Mar. 30-Apr. 30, 1939).
    Old Master Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 4-March 26, 1939).
    CMA, Drawings by Old and Modern Masters from the Collection (June 21-Sep. 30, 1938).
  • {{cite web|title=The Game of Bowls|url=false|author=Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo|year=1797–1804|access-date=23 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1937.571