Pictures and Words 2 – An Italian Caricature at the End of the Great Vienna War (1683–1699) as “Icono-Text”

Abstract

This paper is a branch of my previous research, dealing with allegorical and persuasive cartography, as an exercise in more recent theoretical interpretations of marginalized historical sources – caricatures. The introduction gives the readers an overview of the modern methodology and secondary literature. Furthermore, Giuseppe Maria Mitelli (1634–1718) is unknown to our audience. Therefore, this paper cannot deal with his immenseoeuvre, but only one example of his mastery, the caricature “An International Array of Doctors Counselling the Sultan”. This engraving is dated approximately to 1696, or slightly later, to the last phase of the War of the Holy League (1683–1699). The staging and the characters, as presented in the analysis, show beyond doubt a strong influence from commedia dell’arte in costumes and apparel, recognizing the oldest stock images of Dottore Gracian, originating in Mitelli’s Bologna, and Pantalone, who is precisely attributed to the “medico Venetiano”. This “icono-text” merges visual arts and comedy theatre with text, criticizing the Christian “nations” for their lack of unity in opposing the common foe and nemesis – the Ottoman sultan. The satire is more pronounced in the para-text, adequately written for each one of the actors, including those without the lyrics – headfirst fleeing grand vizier Kara Mustapha, and wool spinning Protestant Prince Imre Thököly, doing the woman’s and not the warrior’s task. Including the sultan, historians have plenty of material for an imagology analysis from the point of view of a witty Bolognese, well-educated and informed, placed in a hub of the baroque network of Europe, bursting with “furor geographicus” and the sound of the printing machines, street vendors, artisans, and carnivals. As any intellectual work, Mitelli’s art piece is placed within its historical-geographical, cultural and socio-political context.