Wide view of Venice: Piazza San Marco - Riva degli Schiavoni

The Charlatan - Assembling crowds to sell ointments

by Giandomenico Tiepolo - 1727-1804

Giandomenico Tiepolo: "The Charlatan" - oil on canvas (1756)
Giandomenico Tiepolo: "The Charlatan" - oil on canvas (1756)

There is also another English term with matches quite well with the Charlatan: Mountebank.

"Mountebank" comes from an old Italian term "montambanco", which defines "who gets up onto a bench".

And we see here a crowd that is harangued by this mountebank, quacking high over their heads, offering who knows which miraculous product.

Some of them couldn't care less, though.


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