Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
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- See also Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (or Giandomenico Tiepolo); or Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo, both sons of Giovanni Battista.
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, also known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo (March 5, 1696 - March 27, 1770) was a Venetian painter and printmaker, considered among the last "Grand Manner" fresco painters from the Venetian republic.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life (1696-1726)
Giambattista Tiepolo was born in Venice, the last of six children of sea-captain, Domenico Tiepolo and his wife, Orsetta. While the Tiepolo surname belongs to a patrician family, Giambattista's father did not claim noble lineage. The future artist was baptised in his parish church (S. Pietro di Castello) as Giovanni Battista, in honour of his godfather, a Venetian nobleman called Giovanni Battista Dorià. His father Domenico died a year after his birth, leaving Orsetta in difficult financial circumstances.
Giambattista was initially a pupil of Gregorio Lazzarini, but the influences from elder contemporaries such as Sebastiano Ricci and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta are stronger in his work. At 19 years of age, Tiepolo completed his first major commission, the Sacrifice of Isaac (now in the Accademia). He left Lazzarini studio in 1717, and was received into the Fraglia guild of painters.
In 1719, Tiepolo married Maria Cecilia Guardi, sister of two contemporary Venetian painters Francesco and Giovanni Antonio Guardi. Together, Tiepolo and his wife had nine children. Four daughters and three sons survived childhood. Two sons, Domenico and Lorenzo, painted with him as his assistants and achieved some independent recognition. His third son became a priest.
[edit] Early mature work (1726-50)
A patrician from the Friulian town of Udine, Dionisio Delfino, commissioned from the young Tiepolo the fresco decoration of the chapel and palace (1726-1728). Tiepolo's first masterpieces in Venice were a cycle of enormous canvases painted to decorate a large reception room of Ca' Dolfin, Venice (ca. 1726–1729), depicting ancient battles and triumph.
He was soon in high demand, which he matched with an astounding prolificity. He painted canvases for churches such as that of Verolanuova (1735-40), for the Scuola dei Carmini (1740-47), and the Scalzi 1743-1744), 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 (1737-39), Palazzo Clerici, Milan (1740), decorations for Villa Cordellini at Montecchio Maggiore (1743-1744) and for the ballroom of the Palazzo Labia, now a television studio in Venice, showing the Story of Cleopatra (1745-1750).
[edit] Tiepolo frescoes the Würzburg Residenz (1750-53)
By 1750, Tiepolo's reputation was firmly established throughout Europe, and accompanied by his son Giandomenico, he traveled to Würzburg at the call of Prince Bishop Karl Philipp von Greiffenklau in 1750, where he resided for three years and executed magnificent ceiling paintings in the New Residenz palace (completed 1744). His painting for the grandiose Neumann-designed entrance staircase (Treppenhaus) is the most massive ceiling fresco in the world at 7287 square feet (677 m²), and was completed in collaboration with his sons, Giandomenico and Lorenzo. 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, notably including America. He also frescoed the Kaisersaal salon.
[edit] Return to Venice and Veneto (1753-1770)
He then returned to Venice in 1753, Tiepolo was now richly in demand locally and abroad, where he was elected President of the Academy of Padua. He now completed theatrical frescoes for churches; the Triumph of Faith for the Chiesa della Pietà; panel frescos for Ca' Rezzonico (which now also holds his ceiling fresco from the Palazzo Barbarigo); and paintings for patrician villas in the Venetian countryside, such as Villa Valmarana (Vicenza) and a large panegyric ceiling for the now nearly vacant Villa Pisani in Stra.
In celebrated frescoes at the Palazzo Labia, he depicted two frescoes on the life of Cleopatra: Meeting of Anthony and Cleopatra[1]and Banquet of Cleopatra,[2]as well as a central ceiling fresco depicts Triumph of Bellerophon over Time. He collaborated with an expert in perspective, Girolamo Mengozzi Colonna. Colonna who also designed sets for opera highlights the increasing tendency towards composition as a staged fiction in his frescoes. The architecture of theBanquet fresco also recalls Veronese's Wedding at Cannae
[edit] Frescoes for the Royal Palace in Madrid
In 1761, Charles III commissioned from the painter a large ceiling fresco to decorate the throne room of the royal palace of Madrid. The panegyric theme is the Apotheosis of Spain. In Spain, he incurred the jealousy and the bitter opposition of Anton Raphael Mengs.
Tiepolo died in Madrid on March 27, 1770.
After his death, the rise of stern Neoclassicism and the post-revolutionary decline of royal absolutism led to the slow decline of the Tiepolo style, but had failed to dent his impact on artistic progress. By 1772 Tiepolo was sufficiently famous to be documented as painter to Doge Giovanni Cornaro, in charge of the decoration of Palazzo Mocenigo a San Polo.
[edit] Critical assessment and legacy
In his most fluid elaborations, Tiepolo has closest affinity to Ricci, Piazzetta, and Federico Bencovich. He is a shadowless fresco artist, a sunnier rococo Pietro da Cortona. His sumptuous historical set-pieces are enveloped in a regal luminosity. He is principally known for his fresco work, particularly his panegyric ceilings. These followed the Baroque tradition begun a century before by Pietro da Cortona, converting roof to painted sky, elevating petty aristocrats to divine status, and allowing for vast compositions that merged with the delicate ornamentation of the stucco frames. Like Luca Giordano, his palette was muted, almost water-color like. Like Giordano, he was prolific. With an unrivaled Sprezzatura, he painted worlds of fresco, and some such as the walls of Villa Valmarana in Vicenza, not only peer into the mythologic scenes, but are meant to relocate viewers into their midst. The earliest example of this is perhaps his canvases in the Ca' Dolfin, which allowed Tiepolo to introduce exuberant costumes, classical sculpture, and action that appears to spill from the frames into the room. Originally set into recesses, they were surrounded with frescoed frames.
While his painting is infused with the Venetian spirit, his luminosity is not seen in the previous masters; however, Tiepolo is considered the last "Olympian" painter of the Venetian Republic. Like Titian before him, Tiepolo was an international star, treasured by royalty far afield for his ability to depict glory in fresco.
His children developed similar, but distinctive styles.
[edit] List of works
- The Institution of the Rosary (1737-39).
- Collecting Mana- National Museum of Serbia.
[edit] Paintings before 1740
| Work | Date | Location | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew | 1722 | San Stae, Venice | |
| The Rape of Europa | c. 1725 | Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice | |
| Allegory of the Power of Eloquence | c. 1725 | Courtauld Institute, Modello for Palazzo Sandi, Venice | |
| Frescoes | 1726 | Episcopal palace, Udine | |
| Perseus & Andromeda | 1730 | Frick Museum | |
| Education of the Virgin | 1732 | S. Maria della Consolazione (Fava), Venice | |
| Angel rescuing Hagar | 1732 | Scuola di San Rocco, Venice | |
| John the Baptist preaching | 1732-1733 | Cappella Colleoni, Bergamo | |
| Beheading of John the Baptist | 1732-1733 | Cappella Colleoni, Bergamo | |
| Scourge of the Serpents | 1732-1735 | Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice | |
| Joseph receiving ring from pharoah | 1732-1735 | Dulwich Picture Gallery | |
| Triumph of Zephyr and Flora | 1734-1735 | Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice | |
| Jupiter and Danaë | 1736 | Universitet Konsthistoriska Institutionen, Stockholm | |
| Pope St. Clement Adoring the Trinity | 1737-1738 | Alte Pinakothek, Munich | |
| Institution of the Rosary | 1737-1739 | Santa Maria del Rosario (Gesuati), Venice | |
| Christ Carrying the Cross | 1737-1738 | Sant'Alvise, Venice | |
| The Madonna of Mount Carmel | 1730s | Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan | |
| Virgin with Six Saints | 1737-1740 | Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
[edit] Works from 1740-1750
| Work | Date | Location | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | Parrocchiale, Verolanuova | |
| Virtue and Nobility putting Ignorance to Flight | 1743 | Dulwich Picture Gallery(modello for Villa Cordellina in Montecchio Maggiore) | |
| The Banquet of Cleopatra | 1743-1744 | National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne | [5] |
| Worshippers | 1743-1745 | Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice | |
| Apollo and Daphne | 1744-1745 | Musée du Louvre, Paris | |
| Discovery of the True Cross | c. 1745 | Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice | |
| Frescoes of the story of Cleopatra | 1746 | Palazzo Labia, Venice | |
| The Virgin Appearing to Dominican Saints | 1747-1748 | Santa Maria del Rosario (Gesuati), Venice | |
| Last Communion of St. Lucy | 1747-1748 | Santi Apostoli, Venice | |
| St. James the Greater Conquering the Moors | 1749-1750 | Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
[edit] Works after 1750
| Work | Date | Location | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frescoes | 1751-1753 | Residenz, Wurzburg | |
| Collecting Mana | c.1751 | National Museum of Serbia, Belgrade | |
| Allegory of Planets and Continents | 1752 | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York | |
| The Death of Hyacinth | 1752-53 | Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid | |
| Adoration of the Magi | 1753 | Alte Pinakothek, Munich | |
| Coronation of the Virgin | 1754 | Kimbell Art Museum, Dallas (modelo for Ospedale della Pietà) | |
| An Allegory with Venus and Time | 1754-58 | 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 | Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels | |
| The Martyrdom of St. Agatha | c. 1756 | Staatliche Museen, Berlin | |
| Allegory of Merit Accompanied by Nobility and Virtue | 1757-58 | Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice | |
| The Vision of St. Anne | 1759 | Gemäldegalerie, Dresden | |
| Madonna of the Goldfinch | c. 1760 | National Gallery of Art, Washington | |
| Woman with a Parrot | 1760-61 | Ashmolean Museum, Oxford | |
| Apotheosis of the Pisani Family | 1761-62 | 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, Palacio Real, Madrid | |
| Venus and Vulcan | 1762-1766 | Halberdiers' Room, Palacio Real, Madrid| |
[edit] Further reading
Barcham, William L. (1992). Giambattista Tiepolo. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-08054-2.
Rizzi, Aldo (1971). The etchings of the Tiepolos. Electa. ISBN 0714814997.
- Aldo Rizzi, Il Tiepolo all'Arcivescovado di Udine, Milano 1965.
- Aldo Rizzi, Tiepolo a Udine, Milano 1969.
- Aldo Rizzi, le acqueforti dei Tiepolo, Milano, 1970.
- Aldo Rizzi, La grafica del Tiepolo: le acqueforti, Milano 1971.
- Aldo Rizzi, La mostra del Tiepolo, Milano 1971.
- Aldo Rizzi, Giambattista Tiepolo, Milano 1990.
- Aldo Rizzi, I Tiepolo a Udine, Milano 1996.
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