Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Duc de Talleyrand;
acquired in 1996 

Antonio Morassi, Dessins Vénitiens du Dix-huitième Siècle de la Collection du Duc de Talleyrand, Milan 1958, no. 24, reproduced

Laid down. Some surface dirt and light foxing. Ink still good and fresh
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In the Talleyrand catalogue, Morassi proposed a dating for this drawing between 1742 and 1750, the period when Tiepolo was exploring different "exotic" personages, while developing the compositions for his various paintings on the theme of Anthony and Cleopatra (see also lot 88). This type of head study is, however, familiar from Tiepolo's drawings and paintings executed at various points in his career, and in particular from the series of prints entitled Raccolta di Teste. These prints were etched by his son and published in two volumes, each containing thirty plates, but only appeared after Giambattista's death.¹  A number of the prints are directly based on surviving drawings;  those drawings, and indeed some of the etchings, were certainly executed much earlier -- in many cases before Tiepolo's departure for Würzburg in 1751. Morassi's dating for the present drawing seems convincing.  

It is perhaps surprising that Giandomenico should have used freely-executed wash drawings as the basis for etchings, since the media seem so different, but somehow the resulting effect is remarkably similar. Though it is not the preparatory study for any of the etchings in the series, this lively and stylish bust-length image of a distinguished older man is in the same spirit as others that are.  It is also a particularly good example of Tiepolo's great gift for extremely subtle combinations of delicate pen-work and spirited, free wash.

1. See Aldo Rizzi, L'Opera grafica dei Tiepolo, Le acqueforti, Venice 1971, cat. nos. 159-221