Initiation of a Carbonaro ca. 1821

This drawing depicts the initiation of a Carbonaro, resembling that of a Freemason with regard to its rituals and formalities. The hermit Theobald (ca. 1017–1066), whose portrait is on the wall in the back, was the patron saint of the Carbonari.

Denis Dighton (1792–1827), untitled lithograph, without date, in: [Jakob Ludwig Salomon Bartholdy]: Memoirs of the Secret Societies of the South of Italy, particularly the Carbonari, London 1821, after p. 24; image source: Courtesy International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, http://socialhistory.org/.