Headpiece for Canto I of Alessandro Tassoni's "Secchia rapita"

Gravelot's design is preparatory for a decorative headpiece for the opening of Canto I (p. 1) of an edition of Alessandro Tassoni's “Secchia rapita” (“The Stolen Bucket”), published in Paris by L. Prault and P. Durand in 1766. Tassoni's mock-heroic poem, originally published in Paris in 1622, blends the construct of an epic with an absurd premise: a 14th century war between Modena and Bologna was actually caused by the Modenese stealing a bucket from Bologna.