This drawing is from a suite of one-hundred-and-four sheets titled Divertimento per li regazzi / carte no. 104 (Entertainment for Children, 104 Drawings), also known as the Punchinello series. The series centers on the adventures of Punchinello (or Pulcinella, to use his common Italian name), a seventeenth-century malicious and boorish character from the Neapolitan commedia dell’arte (a form of improvised theater). In Tiepolo’s vivid interpretation, the character develops into a jovial creature, whose escapades and antics had sometimes been interpreted as an allegory of the Republic of Venice, whose glory was coming to an end in the nineteenth century. Tiepolo intended the series as an independent work of art (and in fact many of the sheets are signed). Its narrative is not inspired by any written text, and the artist may have created the tale as he worked. Punchinello’s life roughly progresses chronologically, which can be followed by the numbers at the top left of each sheet. The artist infused each scene with quick wit, attentive observation of contemporary urban and suburban life, as well as his taste for the anecdotal, as seen in the early scenes with young Punchinelli begging for sweets in a Venetian calle (street) (no. 17) or in the Furlana (no. 31), which captures a joyful moment of a local folk dance. Tiepolo made Punchinello’s pleasures and fears, his adventures and misfortunes, relatable and recognizable, transforming him into a proxy of humanity itself.