Pretini, no. 74

negative 1961–1963; print 1981 · Photograph · 40.3 × 30.1 cm

Mag men het zien?

Ontvangt momenteel niet

J. Paul Getty Museum

Los Angeles, Verenigde Staten

Het hoort bij de collectie, maar is momenteel niet tentoongesteld.

Gecontroleerd: eergisteren
Ongewijzigd sinds: 7 okt 2026
Bron: Het museum

Op de kaart Museumpagina

Over het werk

Among Giacomelli’s most memorable images are those of *pretini* (young priests) in the seminary of Senigallia, whom he captured playing in the snow or relaxing in the courtyard. Once again juxtaposing the distinctive shapes of black-clad figures (this time, seminarians in cassocks) against a white ground (snow-covered or sun-drenched settings), these photographs suggest a more lighthearted mood than is evident in other series. Although appearing to have been choreographed, they are the result of the priests’ unbridled joviality as they run, throw snowballs, or play ring-around-the-rosy, and of Giacomelli’s foresight to let the scenes unfold as he recorded them from the building’s rooftop.

Lees meer

After Giacomelli had won the trust of the seminarians, his interaction with them was brought to an abrupt end when he provided the young men with cigars for photographs he intended to submit to a competition on the theme of smoking. The rector denied him further access. Giacomelli later applied the title I Have No Hands That Caress My Face to this series, from the first two lines of a poem by Father David Maria Turoldo (Italian, 1916–1992) about young men who seek solitary religious life. This title lends poignancy to the moments of exuberance and camaraderie that accompanied study for such a calling.

See other examples of works from this series ([2016.179.1](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297411/), [2016.179.6.5](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297439), [2016.179.6.6](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297440/), [2016.179.6.7](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297441), [2016.179.8](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297454/), [2016.179.45](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297500/)). Virginia Heckert, J. Paul Getty Museum, Department of Photographs 2021

J. Paul Getty Museum