Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Successful from the beginning of his career, he has been described by Michael Levey as "the greatest decorative painter of eighteenth-century Europe, as well as its most able craftsman".

• Name — Giovanni Battista Tiepolo • Other Names — Gianbattista Tiepolo, Giambattista Tiepolo • Born — 5 March 1696 • Birthplace — Venice, Venetian Republic • Died — 27 March 1770 • Place of death — Madrid, Spain • Field — Painting • Movement — Rococo

• Illustration — The Glory of St. Dominic, 1723 • Illustration — Scipio Africanus Freeing Massiva shows Massiva, the nephew of a prince of Numidia, being released after capture by Scipio Africanus. Walters Art Museum. • Illustration — The Banquet of Cleopatra, 1743–44, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Born in Venice, he was the youngest of six children of Domenico and Orsetta Tiepolo. His father was a small shipping merchant who belonged to a family that bore the prestigious patrician name of Tiepolo without claiming any noble descent. Some of the children acquired noble godparents, and Giambattista was originally named after his godfather, a Venetian nobleman called Giovanni Battista Dorià. He was baptised on 16 April 1696 in the local church, San Pietro di Castello (then still officially the cathedral of Venice). His father died about a year later, leaving his mother to bring up a family of young children, presumably in somewhat difficult circumstances. 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 such as Sebastiano Ricci, Giovanni Battista Piazzetta and Federico Bencovich, as well those of his Venetian predecessors, especially Tintoretto and Veronese. A biography of his teacher, published in 1732, says that Tiepolo "departed from [Lazzarini's] studied manner of painting, and, all spirit and fire, embraced a quick and resolute style". His earliest known works are depictions of the apostles, painted in spandrels as part of the decoration of Santa Maria dei Derelitti 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, on the ceiling of a church at Biadene, near Treviso. He probably left Lazzarini's studio in 1717, the year he was received into the Fraglia or guild of painters. 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 on the ceiling, and the Myth of Phaethon on the walls, creating the kind of fluid spatial illusion which was to become a recurring theme in his work. 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 in Venice. The other artists involved included Ricci, Piazetta, and Pellegrini.

• Illustration — Rinaldo Enchanted by Armida, 1742–1745 In 1719, Tiepolo married noblewoman Maria Cecilia Guardi, sister of two contemporary Venetian painters, Francesco and Giovanni Antonio Guardi. Tiepolo and his wife had nine children, of whom four daughters and three sons survived to adulthood. Two of his sons, Giovanni Domenico and Lorenzo, painted with him as his assistants and later achieved some independent recognition, in particular Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo. His children painted figures with a design similar to that of their father, but with distinctive, including genre, styles. His third son became a priest. Fabio Canal, Francesco Lorenzi, and Domenico Pasquini were among his pupils.

• Illustration — Juno and Luna, c. 1735–1745 • Illustration — Perseus and Andromeda, c. 1730–1731 Some major commissions came from the patrician Dolfin family. Dionisio Dolfin, the Archbishop of Udine in Friuli, employed him to decorate a chapel in Udine Cathedral, 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 (the "Arcivescovado") (completed 1726–1728). Despite their elevated subject matter, they are bright in colour, and light-hearted in mood: Michael Levey describes the paintings at the palace as "a shimmering set of tableaux, full of wit and elegance". Tiepolo used a much cooler palette than previous Venetian painters, in order to create a convincing effect of daylight. 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), for the Scuola Grande dei Carmini (1740–1747), in Cannaregio, a ceiling for the Palazzi Archinto and Palazzo 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 Molin, a ceiling for the Chiesa degli Scalzi (1743–1744); now destroyed (reconstitution), Villa Cordellina Molin, 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).

Tiepolo produced two sets of etchings, the Capricci (c. 1740–1742) and the Scherzi di fantasia (c. 1743–1757). The ten capricci were first published by Anton Maria Zanetti, incorporated into the third edition of a compilation of woodcuts after Parmigianino. They were not published separately until 1785. The subject matter is often bizarre and fantastical, and the works owe a lot to the example of Salvator Rosa and Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. The 23 Scherzi were etched over more than ten years and privately circulated, only being commercially published after Tiepolo's death, with numbers and titles added by his son, Giandomenico. Subjects include mysterious Eastern figures, and, in some of the later prints, scenes of necromancy. • Illustration — Apotheosis of Spain, 1762–1766, Royal Palace of Madrid • Illustration — Wealth and Benefits of the Spanish Monarchy under Charles III, 1762, National Gallery of Art

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 Philipp von Greifenclau zu Vollraths, 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) designed by Balthasar Neumann. It is a massive ceiling fresco at 287 square feet (677 m 2), and was completed in November 1753. 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.

• Illustration — The Immaculate Conception, 1767–1768 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. In some celebrated frescoes at the Palazzo Labia, he depicted two scenes from the life of Cleopatra: Meeting of Anthony and Cleopatra and Banquet of Cleopatra, as well as, in a central ceiling fresco, the Triumph of Bellerophon over Time. 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. It is in the church of hamlet of Rampazzo in the Camisano Vicentino.

• Illustration — Apollo Pursuing Daphne, 1755–1760 • Illustration — Manna in the desert In 1761, King Charles III of Spain 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 San Pascual at Aranjuez replaced by works by his favourite.

Tiepolo died in Madrid on 27 March 1770. He is buried in Madonna dell'Orto in Venice. 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.

• Illustration — Alexander the Great and Campaspe in the Studio of Apelles, 1740 • Illustration — Satyress with a Putto, c. 1740–1742, Norton Simon Museum • Illustration — The Empire of Flora, c. 1743, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco • Illustration — Allegory of the Planets and Continents, 1752 • Illustration — The Sacrifice of Iphigenia, 1757, Villa Valmarana • Illustration — Allegory of Virtue and Nobility (Allegory of Strength and Wisdom), c. 1740–1750, Museo Poldi Pezzoli • Illustration — Sketch for Venus and Vulcan, 1765–66 • Illustration — Satyr Family (Pan and his Family), etching, c. 1743–1750 • Illustration — Caricature of a short gentleman holding a muff, pen and ink with gray wash • Illustration — Woman and infant satyr in a landscape, from the etching series 'The Capricci'

• Work — Date — Location — Link • The Virgin with 3 female Dominican Saints — 1739–1748 — Church of the Gesuati, Venice • Alexander the Great and Campaspe in the Studio of Apelles — 1740 — Getty Center, Los Angeles • The Virgin Appearing to St. Philip Neri — 1740 — Museo Diocesano, Camerino • The Gathering of Manna — 1740–1742 — Parrocchiale, Verolanuova • The Sacrifice of Melchizedek — 1740–1742 — Parrocchial church, Verolanuova • The Finding of Moses — 1740–1745 — National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne — • Rinaldo Enchanted by Armida — 1742 — Art Institute of Chicago • Rinaldo and Armida in Her Garden — 1742 — Art Institute of Chicago • Armida Abandoned by Rinaldo — 1742 — Art Institute of Chicago • Rinaldo and the Magus of Ascalon — 1742 — Art Institute of Chicago • The Triumph of Virtue and Nobility over Ignorance — 1743 — Norton Simon Museum, (Pasadena, CA) • Empire of Flora — 1743 — The Legion of Honor, (San Francisco, CA) • Time Unveiling Truth — c. 1743 — Museo Civico Palazzo Chiericati, Vicenza • The Banquet of Cleopatra — 1743–1744 — National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne — • Worshippers — 1743–1745 — Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice • Apollo and Daphne — 1755–1760 — National Gallery of Art, Washington DC — • Discovery of the True Cross — c. 1745 — Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice • Time Unveiling Truth — c. 1745–1750 — Museum of Fine Arts, Boston — • Frescoes of the story of Cleopatra — 1746 — Palazzo Labia, Venice • Saint Patrick, Bishop of Ireland — 1746 — Musei Civici di Padova, Padua • Last Communion of St. Lucy — 1747–1748 — Santi Apostoli, Venice • The Banquet of Cleopatra and Antony — 1747–1750 — North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA • The Glorification of the Barbaro Family — 1749–1750 — Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA • St. James the Greater Conquering the Moors — 1749–1750 — Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary • Bacchus and Ariadne — 1743–1745 — National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA

• Work — Date — Location — Link • Frescoes — 1751–1753 — Residenz, Würzburg — • Collecting Manna — c. 1751 — National Museum of Serbia, Belgrade • Allegory of Planets and Continents — 1752 — Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York — • The Death of Hyacinth — 1752–1753 — Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid • Adoration of the Magi — 1753 — Alte Pinakothek, Munich • Coronation of the Virgin — 1754 — Kimbell Art Museum, Dallas (modelo for Ospedale della Pietà) • The Entrance of the Gonfaloniere Piero Soderini into Florence in 1502 (L'ingresso di gonfaloniere Piero Soderini in Firenze nel 1502) — 1754 — Swiss Embassy, Rome, Italy — • An Allegory with Venus and Time — 1754–1758 — National Gallery, London • Frescoes from Roman mythology — 1757 — Villa Valmarana, Vicenza • A Seated Man and a Girl with a Pitcher — c. 1755 — National Gallery, London • The Theological Virtues — c. 1755 — Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels • The Martyrdom of St. Agatha — c. 1756 — Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, • Allegory of Merit Accompanied by Nobility and Virtue — 1757–1758 — Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice • Santa Tecla prays for the Liberation of Este from the Plague — 1759 — Church of Santa Tecla, Este • Pope St. Sylvester baptises emperor Constantine the Great — 1759 — Chiesa di San Silvestro, Brescia • The Vision of St. Anne — 1759 — Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden • Virtue and Nobility Crowning Love — 1759–1761 — Museum of Fine Arts, Boston • Modello for the Apotheosis of the Pisani Family — 1760 — Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers • Madonna of the Goldfinch — c. 1760 — National Gallery of Art, Washington • Woman with a Parrot — 1760–1761 — Ashmolean Museum, Oxford • Apotheosis of the Pisani Family — 1761–1762 — Villa Pisani, Stra • San Carlo Borromeo — 1767–1769 — Cincinnati Art Museum • The Immaculate Conception — 1767–1769 — Museo del Prado, Madrid • Glory of Spain — 1762–1766 — Throne Room of Royal Palace of Madrid • The Apotheosis of the Spanish Monarchy — 1762–1766 — Queen's Antechamber, Royal Palace of Madrid • Venus and Vulcan — 1762–1766 — Halberdiers' Room, Royal Palace of Madrid • The Entombment of Christ — 1769–1770 — National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon • The Flight to Egypt — 1765–1770 — National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon —

The authorities additionally record the headings J. Battista Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista Tiepoli, Juan Bautista Tiépolo and Dzhovanni Battista Tʹepolo. His recorded language was Italian. He was the child of Domenico Tiepolo and Orsetta Tiepolo. He married Maria Cecilia Guardi. 2 children are recorded: Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo and Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo.

Works recorded as notable number 8: Apotheosis of Angelo della Vecchia, Apotheosis of Saint Gaetano Thieme, Scipio Africanus Freeing Massiva, Ceiling fresco in the staircase of the Würzburg Residence, Apelles Painting Campaspe, An Allegory with Venus and Time, The Patron Saints of the Crotta Family and Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert. His recorded genres are fresco, religious, allegory, animal art and genre art.

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo is recorded as fresco painter, printmaker, architectural drafter and painter.