Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Sale, London, Christie's, 5 July 1983, lot 128;
acquired in 1984

Laid down. Lightly foxed, and some light surface dirt. Small repair, lower right edge, and crease, top right corner. Ink and wash still good and strong.
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Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's dashing, fluid manner of drawing has its origins in the work of Luca Giordano, known as fa presto.  Giordano's influence is readily apparent in this early drawing, which must date from the 1720s. Soon after this, Tiepolo began to seek inspiration from the works of artists from his native Venice, particularly Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, but here the theatrical poses, intense characterisation and narrative clarity, as well as the use of broad, relatively evenly applied washes, all indicate the importance of the earlier influence of Giordano.

The rapidity of execution that Tiepolo also derived from Giordano would permit him to produce a very substantial number of drawings during the course of his career, but early drawings of this type are, in fact, rather rare.  The most comparable studies to the present work include The Decapitation of a Bishop (Civici Musei di Storia e Arte, Trieste), and a Roman Sacrifice (Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University), the latter of which may be linked with Tiepolo's Ca' Dolfin decorations of circa 1728.¹   

When the drawing was sold in 1983, the attribution was confirmed by Professor George Knox, after having seen it in the original.

1. See, respectively, A. Rizzi, Giambattista Tiepolo, Disegni dai Civici Musei di Storia e Arte di Trieste, exhibition catalogue, London/Milan/Trieste 1990, cat. no. 4, and Tiepolo: A Bicentenary Exhibition 1770-1970, exhibition catalogue, Cambridge, Fogg Art Museum, 1970, cat. no. 7