Plate 4: Boy with a lace collar holding a piece of fruit in his hands; from 'Icones ad vivum expressae' after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta 1743

Giovanni Cattini created this print, 'Boy with a lace collar holding a piece of fruit in his hands,' after a drawing by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, sometime in the 18th century. The image, with its sensitive depiction of a young boy, speaks to the increasing importance placed on childhood during this period. But the boy’s fine lace collar and carefully arranged hair also point to the importance of social status. This wasn’t just any child, but one who likely came from a wealthy family. Prints like this one were often made as independent works to be sold on the art market. But they also served as a form of advertisement for artists like Piazzetta, circulating their designs and building their reputations. To understand this image more fully, we could investigate the history of childhood and family portraiture in 18th-century Italy, consulting sources such as letters, diaries, and account books to learn more about the social world in which it was made.