Women of Sora, Ischia, Lipari and Procida with Sicilian Dancers, 1842

This is an original antique lithograph with hand coloring from the Galleria Universale di Tutti i Popoli del Mondo (Venice, Giuseppe Antonelli, 1842). In the upper image a woman in a white head cloth, white blouse and banded pink, yellow and blue apron rests her hand on a jar set on a stone pillar; a second woman in a blue jacket, orange apron and dark skirt dances with a tambourine raised over her head, flowers and pins in her hair, a herm statue behind her; and a third, in a pink dress, flowered apron and blue sash, carries a large green cloth folded on her head. In the lower image a woman in a red and yellow head scarf, green jacket, white apron and red skirt leans on a low wall, while two young women in blue skirts dance hand in hand, one in a round straw hat seen from behind and the other in a red turban and red bodice.

The top margin is lettered "Tav. 54" at the left, "ITALIA" in the center and "Tom. IV" at the right. The captions under the upper image read "Donna di Sora" (woman of Sora), "Donna dell'Isola Ischia" (woman of the island of Ischia) and "Donna di Lippari in abito nuziale" (woman of Lipari in bridal dress). The captions under the lower image read "Donna di Procida" (woman of Procida) and "Contadine siciliane danzanti" (Sicilian peasant women dancing).

Sora is a town in southern Lazio; Ischia and Procida are islands in the Gulf of Naples; Lipari is the largest of the Aeolian Islands off the north coast of Sicily. The plate gathers dress from across the south of the Italian peninsula and its islands.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.