There is a charming drawing, Leaving Montepulciano, in the current exhibition, Americans in Florence: Sargent and the American Impressionists, at Palazzo Strozzi (see TF 159). One of the eight works in the show by American printmaker, illustrator and writer Joseph Pennell, it depicts the artist and his wife, writer Elizabeth Robins Pennell, riding out of the town mounted on their tandem tricycle, greeting a fellow cyclist riding a penny-farthing bicycle. Pioneers in cycling tourism throughout Europe, the Pennells cleverly used their hobby as a way to make a living. In fact, soon after their marriage in Philadelphia in 1884, the couple moved to England, where they lived for over 30 years, making frequent visits to the Continent.
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