The Pied Piper

The “Pied Piper” was my first project -book and I worked on it in cooperation with Carthusia Edizioni while I was attending the Master “Ars in fabula” in Macerata.

The fairy tale tells of a mysterious Pied Piper who freed the city of Hamelin from the plague of rats in exchange for a generous reward. When the city was liberated, the villagers refused to pay the Pied Piper. But woe to those who don’t respect promises!

In their original version (1812), in fact, the Grimm brothers told that the Pied Piper wanted revenge for the offense suffered, so he brought all the children of the city to a cave where they were locked up forever. Only a lame child, could escape from the kidnapping, because he couldn’t keep up with the others.
In its later versions the fairy tale was deprived of its tragic end, and took an aspect less “horror” and definitely less scary.

This timeless fairy tale has always fascinated me for the issues that have been addressed, such as the theme of the innocence of childhood, honesty, the importance of keeping to the commitments assumed  and the beneficial and saving power of music.

The dreamlike atmospheres of some paintings by Paul Klee have suggested me to experiment with different coloristic techniques on dark backgrounds, in particular by combining dry pastels and coloured pencils on different paper supports. This experimentation seemed more suited to the mysterious and “magical” atmospheres of the Pied Piper's fairy tale.