Costumes of South Calabria
Classification
figures
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt
Accession Number
1931-73-8
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Saverio della Gatta, an Italian artist active from 1777 to 1829, created “Costumes of South Calabria” in 1828, near the end of his career. Classified simply as figures, the work focuses on the people of this southern Italian region and their distinctive traditional dress. At a time when many European artists were recording regional customs, della Gatta’s drawing preserves the visual details of local attire, offering later viewers a window into everyday cultural identity in early nineteenth-century Calabria. Now part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection through the generous g...