The Charlatan

The Charlatan (Italian Il Ciarlatano) is a large 1656 satirical painting by the Italian Baroque artist Bernardino Mei. It shows an aged charlatan seated on an armchair resting on a trestle stage in the Piazza del Campo, the main square of the Tuscan town of Siena. He holds in his left-hand the tools of his trade; vials and remedies, with pitchers and an invoice reading L'olio de filosofi di Straccione (Straccione's Philosopher's oil) lying on the cheap timbre below him. The man is hefty and dressed in old, filthy clothes -he bears a dirty white robe with a blue sash, white leggings and heavy black shoes- and an unkempt beard; Bernardino has unflatteringly portrayed him as a mixture of a second rate Old Testament prophet, tattered alchemical philosopher, and the forbidding Roman god Saturn.