Three hovering putti 

Gaspare Diziani sketched these three hovering putti in the 18th century, using pen and brown ink with brown wash over graphite. Diziani lived and worked in Venice during the late Baroque and early Rococo periods. Venice was a city known for its artistic innovation, but also for its rigid social hierarchy. Aristocratic patronage and the art market heavily influenced the subjects that artists were expected to represent and the visual language that they would use. Putti, often used in both secular and religious contexts, are a symbol of levity, beauty, and playfulness. It's interesting to consider how the artist would use familiar artistic tropes while at the same time using innovative techniques to forge his own path. To truly understand Diziani's work, one must delve into the cultural and institutional history of Venice, consulting period documents and critical analyses of the period. The meaning of art changes with its social context.