Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Marius Paulme, Paris (bears variant of L.1910, black ink lower left, rather than drystamped lower right, and another unidentified mark, possibly a further variant of the Paulme mark, lower right),
his sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 14 May 1929, lot 248, reproduced pl. 168;
sale, London, Christie's, 7 April 1981, lot 104;
private collection, New York;
acquired in 1991 

Window mounted. Some light foxing and surface dirt. A few light creases in paper surface. Otherwise very good, fresh condition.
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This spectacular and beautifully preserved drawing can be compared with a number of sheets from the famous group of Tiepolo drawings formerly in the Orloff collection (see lot 86); George Knox and others consider these to be relatively early works, dating from the 1730s and early '40s.¹  Particularly close in both style and theme is The Virgin and Child, St. John the Baptist, and Four Franciscan Saints, now in a private collection.²  That drawing has been dated to the mid-1730s, although the present work may in fact be a little later in date, as there are also clear stylistic affinities with preparatory drawings -- such as the fine example in the Metropolitan Museum³ -- for Giovanni Battista's painting of The Meeting of Anthony and Cleopatra, executed in 1746 for the ballroom of the Palazzo Labia, Venice.

Although Tiepolo's grand drawings of this type often represent similar subjects to those seen in his paintings, direct connections are rare.  Instead, most of these drawings seem to have been made as independent, finished works of art.  As such, they are a stunning celebration of the art of drawing, and a testament to Tiepolo's complete mastery of his chosen media.  

1. George Knox, 'The Orloff Album of Tiepolo Drawings,' Burlington Magazine, CIII, 1961, pp. 269-75

2. See Tiepolo and his Circle, Drawings in American Collections, exh. cat., Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Art Museums, and New York, Pierpont Morgan Library,  1996-97,  no. 74, reproduced

3. Tiepolo and his Circle, exh. cat., op. cit., no. 54, reproduced