Osei, che canta — plate 11
The Arti che vanno per via nella città di Venezia (1753, 1770, 1785, etc.), by Gaetano Zompini (1700–1778), contains sixty engravings of common, mostly poor people, peddling their trades on the streets of Venice in the mid-1700s.
Text
Co è Marzo da de fora è l’arte mia De portar a Venezia osei che canta, E de impenir le case de armonia.
Translation
When March arrives, my trade is
To bring from outside birds that sing
And fill the houses with harmony
Notes
Osei is the plural of oseło — bird — as the ‘l’ in Venetian is weak and often elided.
The verb impenir or impinir means to fill, as in to fill a glass.
Caged songbirds were used, among other things, to entice passers-by into the shops. See the passage about the Merceria in An Englishman in Venice — the diary of John Evelyn — 1645.
The plates 9 — Marmotina — and 54 — Fa ballar i Cani — also show entertainment using animals.
All images
Related articles
Bibliography
Zompini, Gaetano. Le arti che vanno per via nella città di Venezia inventate ed incise da Gaetano Zompini, Aggiuntavi una memoria di detto autore. Venezia, 1785.
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