Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770)
Detail; Perseus and Andromeda, 1730
Oil on canvas
Height: 51.8 cm (20.3 in); Width: 40.6 cm (15.9 in)
The Frick Collection
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (March 5, 1696 – March 27, 1770), also known as Giambattista (or Gianbattista) Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice who painted in the Rococo style, considered important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. He was prolific, and worked not only in Italy, but also in Germany and Spain.
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770)
Perseus and Andromeda, 1730
Oil on canvas
Height: 51.8 cm (20.3 in); Width: 40.6 cm (15.9 in)
The Frick Collection
Tiepolo took liberties with Ovid's Metamorphoses in showing Perseus riding the winged horse Pegasus instead of flying by way of a pair of winged sandals, as in the original text. At the bottom is the rock on which Andromeda was chained, with remnants of her shackles still attached to it. In the sea below is the dying monster, with Perseus's lance — which has shattered upon piercing its head — above its eye. To the left, and behind the rock, are five Nereids, crying, presumably for the death of the monster, as well as from the humiliation suffered because of Cassiopeia's comments. In the sky, Jupiter, accompanied by his eagle, welcomes a supplicating female figure seated on a cloud, presumably Cassiopeia herself, asking for her daughter to be spared. At the heart of the composition is Perseus, on Pegasus, flying through the sky and seizing Andromeda, who is naked and wearing her broken manacles. Around them is a glory of Cupids, celebrating the love between Perseus and Andromeda. Throughout the composition, small stars are visible. Most of the mythological figures in this scene — Perseus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Pegasus — were later transformed into constellations. More on this painting
In 1710 he became a pupil of Gregorio Lazzarini, a successful painter with an eclectic style. He was, though, at least equally strongly influenced by his study of the works of other contemporary artists. His earliest known works are depictions of the apostles, painted in spandrels as part of the decoration of the church of the Ospedoletto in Venice in 1715–6. At about the same time he became painter to the Doge, Giovanni II Cornaro, and oversaw the hanging of pictures at his palace, as well as painting many works himself, of which only two portraits have been identified. He painted his first fresco in 1716.
Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista, (b. 1696, Venezia, d. 1770, Madrid)
Triumph of Aurora, c. 1719
Fresco
Villa Baglioni, Massanzago
The ceiling of the main hall, which opens up to a faux sky, contains a depiction of The Triumph of Aurora, in which the goddess is accompanied by numerous mythological figures, including Zephyr and Flora and Time, who is depicted as a winged old man armed with a scythe and an hourglass, and positioned on a painted frame. More on this painting
Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista, (b. 1696, Venezia, d. 1770, Madrid)
Phaethon Asking His Father to Let Him Drive the Chariot of Sun, c. 1719
Fresco
Villa Baglioni, Massanzago
Phaethon Asking His Father to Let Him Drive the Chariot of Sun is the principal episode of the Myth of Phaethon. It is staged on the east wall of the main hall. The chariot appears in the lower section, with spirited horses, ready to lead him into the sky, their bridles held by the Hours. More on this painting
In around 1719–20 he painted a scheme of frescoes for the wealthy, and recently ennobled, publisher Giambattista Baglione in the hall of his villa at Massanzago near Padua. Tiepolo depicted the Triumph of Aurora (See above) on the ceiling, and the Myth of Phaethon (See above) on the walls, creating the kind of fluid spatial illusion which was to become a recurring theme in his work.
Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista, (b. 1696, Venezia, d. 1770, Madrid)
Martyrdom of St James, c. 1722
Oil on canvas
165 x 138 cm
San Stae, Venice
Piazzetta's Martyrdom of St James is part of the cycle of the Apostles which as a 'collective exhibition' fortunately remained intact in the choir of the Baroque church San Stae, giving an outline of Venetian painting of the period.
The small, light-suffused head of the rider emerging from the deep shadows in the foreground only just manages to soften the tension created by the contrast between the ruffian's brutality and the obstinate determination of the apostle, guided and illuminated by his faith. More on this painting
In 1722 he was one of twelve artists commissioned to contribute a painting on canvas of one of the apostles as part of a decorative scheme for the nave of San Stae (See above) in Venice.
Some major commissions came from the patrician Dolfin family. Dionisio Dolfin, the Archbishop of Udine in Friuli employed him to decorate a chapel in the cathedral at Udine, and then to paint another cycle depicting episodes from the lives of Abraham and his descendants from the Book of Genesis at his archiepiscopal palace. Tiepolo used a much cooler palette than previous Venetian painters, in order to create a convincing effect of daylight.
Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista, (b. 1696, Venezia, d. 1770, Madrid)
The Three Angels Appearing to Abraham, c. 1724-29
Fresco
4000 x 2000 cm
Palazzo Patriarcale, Udine
Abraham sat in front of his tent’s door and the Lord appeared to him in the form of Three Angels (or rather God accompanied by Two Angels). Abraham welcomed them (as Joseph and Mary would welcome the Wise Men to the manger), and they prophesied that even in her old age, Sarah would bear a son by the name of Isaac. More on the Three Angles
This scene was painted in one of the narrow wall panels in the Gallery.
Abraham kneels in prayer, awed by the appearance of the three angels, who float on a very solid-looking white cloud. The scene illustrates both the promise to make Abraham "a father of many nations" and the favour shown by God towards him, as described in the book of Genesis. Although the divine origin of the angels is made clear by their being placed in the upper portion of the picture, Tiepolo has portrayed them with very human features. More on this painting
Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista, (b. 1696, Venezia, d. 1770, Madrid)
Rachel Hiding the Idols from Her Father Laban, c. 1724-29
Fresco
4000 x 5000 cm
Palazzo Patriarcale, Udine
The aged Laban stoops over his daughter and demands that she hand over the graven images that she has stolen. She refuses to do so. The action takes place in the encampment where Jacob's caravan rests on its way to Canaan. The staged character of the composition, imaginatively enriched with scenes from everyday life, obscures its Old Testament subject matter, reducing the latter to the status of a vague vision. More on this painting
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 1696 – 1770
The Angel Appears to Sarah, c. 1726-28
Fresco
400 × 200 cm
Palazzo Patriarcale, Udine
At the age of one hundred, Sara gives birth to Abraham's son Isaac. Divine intervention is necessary, and this is probably where the angel comes in. More on this painting
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 1696 – 1770
The Sacrifice of Isaac, c. 1724-29
Fresco
4000 x 5000 cm
Palazzo Patriarcale, Udine
Accompanied by a shaft of divine light, an angel floats down on a cloud to stay Abraham's hand just as he is about to slay his son as commanded by God. The ram, which is to be sacrificed in Isaac's place can already be seen on the lower edge of the picture. More on this painting
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 1696 – 1770
Hagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness, c. 1724-29
Fresco
Palazzo Patriarcale, Udine
Hagar, Abraham's handmaiden, with whom he had conceived his son Ishmael, had been driven from the house by Sarah. The theme of this representation is the appearance of the angel, who saves the completely exhausted Hagar, leaning against an empty barrel in the desert, and her son from dying of thirst, and who prophecies that Ishmael shall be made the "father of many nations". With an energetic gesture he points out the way, which, in reference to the central ceiling painting. This symbolizes the biblical belief that the Arab nations derive from Ishmael's line of descendants. More on this painting
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 1696 – 1770
Jacob's Dream, c. 1724-29
Fresco
Palazzo Patriarcale, Udine
The fresco illustrates Jacob's dream of the ladder to heaven. Tiepolo has moved the ladder, seen ascending into the divine light, from the centre of the picture slightly towards the left. The sleeping Jacob sees in his dream the vision of a divine prophecy, in which he is promised numerous descendants and safe arrival in the land of Canaan under the protection of God himself In form and content. More on this painting
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 1696 – 1770
The Judgment of Solomon, c. 1724-29
Fresco
360 x 655 cm
Palazzo Patriarcale, Udine
The painting shows a wide flight of stairs, seen from below at an oblique angle, on which King Solomon is enthroned in front of a canopy of cloth, acting in his capacity as a judge. The moment in which the true mother is revealed is re-enacted here. A crowd of onlookers, including a dog and a dwarf, are present as Solomon makes his judgment that the child shall be "divided equally" by the sword. The true mother prevents this awful deed in order to save her child, while the dead infant of the false mother in the foreground is a reference to the cause of events. More on this painting
His first masterpieces in Venice were a cycle of ten enormous canvases painted to decorate a large reception room of Ca' Dolfin on the Grand Canal of Venice (ca. 1726–1729), depicting battles and triumphs from the history of ancient Rome.
These early masterpieces, innovative amongst Venetian frescoes for their luminosity, brought him many commissions. He painted canvases for churches such as that of Verolanuova (1735–1740), See below (The Hebrews collecting manna in the desert); for the Scuola dei Carmini (1740–1747) See below, (Penance, humility, truth), (Courage and justice), (The theological virtues; Faith, Hope, Charity) (Prudence, purity and temperance), and the Chiesa degli Scalzi (1743–1744; now destroyed) in Cannaregio, a ceiling for the Palazzi Archinto and Casati-Dugnani in Milan (1731), the Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo (1732–1733), a ceiling for the Gesuati (Santa Maria del Rosario) in Venice of St. Dominic Instituting the Rosary (1737–1739), Palazzo Clerici, Milan (1740), decorations for Villa Cordellina at Montecchio Maggiore (1743–1744) and for the ballroom of the Palazzo Labia in Venice (now a television studio), showing the Story of Cleopatra (1745–1750).
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770)
The Hebrews collecting manna in the desert, circa 1740
Oil on canvas
Height: 92 mm (3.62 in); Width: 67 mm (2.63 in)
National museum of fine arts, Buenos Aires
Manna is, according to the Bible, an edible substance which God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert during the 40-year period following the Exodus and prior to the conquest of Canaan. It is also mentioned in the Quran three times. More on Manna
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770)
Penance, humility, truth, between 1739 and 1744
Oil on canvas
Height: 240 cm (94.4 in); Width: 235 cm (92.5 in)
Great School of the Carmini
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770)
Courage and justice, between 1739 and 1744
Oil on canvas
Height: 240 cm (94.4 in); Width: 235 cm (92.5 in)
Great School of the Carmini
Courage (Woman leaning against a column with a lion); Justice (Woman crowned with thorn a sword in hand, surmounted by a dove)
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770)
The theological virtues; Faith, Hope, Charity, between 1739 and 1744
Oil on canvas
Height: 240 cm (94.4 in); Width: 235 cm (92.5 in)
Scuola Grande dei Carmini
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770)
Prudence, purity and temperance, between 1739 and 1744
Oil on canvas
Height: 240 cm (94.4 in); Width: 235 cm (92.5 in)
Scuola Grande dei Carmini
Prudence (Woman with a snake wrapped around her arm and a mirror in her hand with her eyes raised to the light); Purity (young girl with raised hair, the eyelids lowered modestly); Temperence (Woman pouring the liquid drawn from the source). More on this painting
By 1750, Tiepolo's reputation was firmly established throughout Europe, with the help of his friend Francesco Algarotti, an art dealer, critic and collector. That year, at the behest of Prince Bishop Karl Philip von Greiffenklau, he traveled to Würzburg where he arrived in November 1750. He remained there for three years during which he executed ceiling paintings in the New Residenz palace (completed 1744). He frescoed the Kaisersaal salon in collaboration with his sons Giandomenico and Lorenzo and was then invited to deliver a design for the grandiose entrance staircase (Treppenhaus). It is a massive ceiling fresco at 7287 square feet (677 m2). His Allegory of the Planets and Continents depicts Apollo embarking on his daily course; deities around him symbolize the planets; allegorical figures (on the cornice) represent the four continents. He included several portraits in the Europe section of this fresco, including a self-portrait; one of his son Giandomenico; one of the prince-bishop von Greiffenklau; one of the painter Antonio Bossi; and one of the architect, Balthasar Neumann.
Giambattista Tiepolo (Venice 1696-1770 Madrid)
Alexander and Campaspe in the studio of Apelles
Oil on canvas
16 3/8 x 19 5/8 in. (41.5 x 49.9 cm.)
Private collection
The story of Apelles and Campaspe is recounted in Pliny the Elder's Natural History (35:10-36). It tells how Apelles was asked by the Emperor to paint a portrait of his favourite concubine, the beautiful Campaspe, and how, while working on the commission, the artist fell in love with his sitter. In appreciation of the painter's work, Alexander gave Campaspe's hand to Apelles in marriage. For centuries, the romantic tale of Apelles and Campaspe provided a means by which painters could praise their courtly and noble art. Apelles of Kos himself was celebrated as the most gifted artist of the ancient world, with an unrivalled ability to create likenesses. Pliny wrote that 'he singly contributed almost more to painting than all the other artists put together' . More on this painting
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770)
Alexander the Great and Campaspe in the Studio of Apelles, circa 1740
Oil on canvas
Height: 425 mm (16.73 in); Width: 540 mm (21.25 in)
Getty Center
Tiepolo returned to Venice in 1753. He was now in demand locally, as well as abroad where he was elected President of the Academy of Padua. He went on to complete theatrical frescoes for churches; the Triumph of Faith for the Chiesa della Pietà; panel frescos for Ca' Rezzonico (which now also houses his ceiling fresco from the Palazzo Barbarigo); and paintings for patrician villas in the Venetian countryside, such as Villa Valmarana in Vicenza and an elaborate panegyric ceiling for the Villa Pisani in Stra.
Artist: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venice 1696–1770 Madrid)
The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra, ca. 1745–47
Oil on canvas
18 1/4 × 26 1/4 in. (46.4 × 66.7 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770)
The Banquet of Cleopatra, from 1743 until 1744
Oil on canvas
Height: 2,503 mm (98.54 in); Width: 3,570 mm (11.71 ft)
National Gallery of Victoria
The love affair between the Roman consul Mark Antony (83–30 BC) and the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra (69–30 BC) was a popular subject for artists in the eighteenth century. The episode represented in Tiepolo’s painting is drawn from Pliny’s Natural History (written in AD 77). Here Pliny recounted the tale of a famous contest between the Egyptian and Roman rulers whereby Cleopatra wagered that she could stage a feast more lavish than the legendary excesses of Mark Antony.
Tiepolo shows the dramatic moment at the end of Cleopatra’s repast when, faced with a still scornful Mark Antony, she wins the wager with her trump card. Removing one of a pair of priceless pearl earrings, Cleopatra dissolves it in a glass of vinegar and drinks it, thereby causing Mark Antony to lose his bet. More on this painting
In some celebrated frescoes at the Palazzo Labia, he depicted two scenes from the life of Cleopatra: Meeting of Anthony and Cleopatra (See above) and Banquet of Cleopatra (See above), as well as, in a central ceiling fresco, the Triumph of Bellerophon over Time (See below). Here he collaborated with Girolamo Mengozzi Colonna. This connection with Colonna, who also designed sets for opera, highlights the increasing tendency towards composition as a staged fiction in Tiepolo's frescoes. The architecture of the Banquet fresco also recalls that of Veronese's Wedding at Cana. In 1757, he painted an altar piece for the Thiene family, representing the apotheosis of Saint Cajetan (See below). It is in the church of hamlet of Rampazzo in the Camisano Vicentino.
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770)
Bellerophon on Pegasus, c. 1743-50
Fresco
diameter c. 600 cm
Palazzo Labia, Venice
The ceiling fresco is conceived as an illusionistic view of the heavens, where Bellerophon rides upon the white winged-steed Pegasus towards Glory, untroubled by the old man with the lance at the bottom of the picture, who can no longer harm him. Glory is personified by a female figure in golden yellow robes, floating on a cloud next to a pyramid, the traditional symbol of eternity.
Bellerophon is the Corinthian hero of Greek mythology who famously battled and killed the fantastical Chimera monster, a fearsome fire-breathing mix of lion, goat, and snake. The son of Poseidon, Bellerophon tamed the winged horse Pegasus and famously fought and defeated the warlike Solymoi, the Amazons, and Carian pirates - all tasks set him by Iobates, the king of Lycia. The hero then pushed his luck too far, and, riding Pegasus high in the sky in a vain and foolish attempt to join the gods on Mount Olympus, Bellerophon fell to the ground and was killed. More on Bellerophon
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venice 1696–1770 Madrid)
The Apotheosis of the Spanish Monarchy, c. 1760s
Oil on canvas
1/8 x 27 1/8 in. (84.1 x 68.9 cm)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Apollo, his right hand extended, holding a royal scepter, lithely arrives on a bank of clouds, cradling in his left arm his lyre (he is the god of music and the arts). Mercury—the messenger of the gods—flies in with a crown for the enthroned figure of Spain with her lion. Fame sounds his trumpet while Jupiter commands the proceedings above his soaring eagle. More on this painting
In 1761, Charles III commissioned Tiepolo to create a ceiling fresco to decorate the throne room of the Royal Palace of Madrid. The panegyric theme is the Apotheosis of Spain and has allegorical depictions recalling the dominance of Spain in the Americas and across the globe.
He also painted two other ceilings in the palace, and carried out many private commissions in Spain. However he suffered from the jealousy and the bitter opposition of the rising champion of Neoclassicism, Anton Raphael Mengs; at the instigation of Mengs' supporter, the King's confessor Joaquim de Electa, had Tiepolo's series of canvases for the church of S. Pascual at Aranjuez replaced by works by his favourite.
Tiepolo died in Madrid on March 27, 1770.
After his death, the rise of a stern Neoclassicism and the post-revolutionary decline of absolutism led to the slow decline of the Rococo style associated with his name, but failed to dent his reputation. In 1772, Tiepolo's son was sufficiently respected to be painter to Doge Giovanni II Cornaro, in charge of the decoration of Palazzo Mocenigo in the sestiere of San Polo, Venice. More on Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
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