Wide view of Venice: Piazza San Marco - Riva degli Schiavoni
Watercolor by Giovanni Grevembroch: "Frombolatore"
Giovanni Grevembroch: "Frombolatore" (Slinger)
pen, ink & watercolor (18th century) - Museo Correr, Venezia

The FROMBOLATORE mask

Here is another version of the Mattasin mask, more elegant and elaborated and - very likely - more modern, XVII century, I would say.

The costume had to be as comfortable as possible, so he could take a fast way out, it was light, short and well arranged so the frombolatore could obtain the best accuracy.

At a certain point in time, the game of throwing perfumed eggs at ladies walking in the street became widely diffused (and annoying ...) that the law jumped in and forbade it (1268) but it came back in fashion about three centuries later.

So the Venice Republic government decided to build nets in the San Marco Procuratie (the arcades all around the square) where the noble ladies were taking their daily walk, to protect them from the frombolatores' smelly attentions.


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