Una curiosa sfilata di soldatacci mangiati dalla fame e pidocchiosi. Le illustrazioni di Alberto Martini per La secchia rapita.

Abstract

The article focuses on Alberto Martini's illustrations for Alessandro Tassoni's Secchia rapita, painted from 1895 to 1935, as an example of parody in visual art. It analyzes the numerous influences in Martini's work. Martini took his inspiration from contemporary art, like for instance Beardsley, Rubino, Sattler; and from Old Masters, like Callot, Della Bella, Hogart, Fussli. But he also used models and themes from some Renaissance Italian Masters, like Antonello da Messina, Carpaccio, Leonardo, Cellini. This looks crucial in order to understand how the artist, by following Tassoni's idea to use the epic style for a parody of Tasso's poem, did the same in painting, changing the solemn Renaissance models into a mock-heroic style of art.