Le Malade Imaginaire

Giuseppe Signorini distinguished himself mainly as a watercolourist and genre painter with a dominant orientalist theme. His work often depicts scenes that took place in Morocco and the Near East. At the same time, he was interested in more satirical themes, producing scenes featuring ecclesiastics, especially cardinals.

This watercolour, inspired by Molière’s Le Malade Imaginaire, is a case in point. In a luxurious interior, a cardinal wearing a red cassock and zucchetto, apparently ill, lies on his back while a figure dressed in black, presumably a doctor, is taking his pulse.