Puppeteers and their puppet stages and booths thus appear in paintings and engravings of the 18th century, such as Venetian painters and printmakers Pietro Longhi ( c.1701-1785) and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770), in such contexts as a public square, a celebration, a princely marriage, a carnival, a fair, or even an aristocratic convent. In Europe, there are numerous texts and illustrations showing how puppetry once was very present in daily lives or at festive events, and how it adapted to social changes. One could therefore see in this the deep-rooted mechanics of an art that represents, metaphorically, the condition of man in society, and the fragility of the poor and the little in front of the powerful and the authority that manipulates its subjects. The question of power is, from the start, a subtext of the relationship between the manipulating puppeteer and the manipulated puppet. Some traditional characters are thus found outside of their geographical and cultural contexts, and the same functions and meanings are very often attributed to the use of certain techniques. Beyond the elements that are specific to each culture, there are many analogies underlined by the comparison between the different uses of the puppet in religious and social rites. Like any art form, the puppet theatre can be perceived as a manifestation, a sign and a reflection of the historical, cultural and political situation of a society at any given time.
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