Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Hinged centre top and bottom. All four corners cut made up with beige paper. A slight fold from the top left corner running diagonally to bottom corner, not very visible. A few slight stains. Some surface dirt on right hand corner. Overall in very good condition, paper fresh. Sold in simple modern wooden frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This is a previously unknown study for one of Giambattista's ceilings in the Palazzo Labia, Venice, painted in the summer of 1744.¹  As is also the case with the other surviving connected sheets, there are significant differences from the final fresco, partly as a result of the fact that the latter is horizontal, rather than vertical in format.  Although the pose of Bacchus is here very close to that of the corresponding figure on the ceiling, in the fresco the figure of Ariadne is placed further from Bacchus and looks towards him, while the putti have been moved to the far right.  The several other known studies relating to this same composition are all also vertical in format.  The present sheet appears closest to those in the Joan K. Davidson Collection, New York,² the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,³ and the collection of Z. Birthschansky, Paris.⁴   Two further drawings, in the Lehman Collection and the Morgan Library, have also been associated with this project although the connection appears less convincing.⁵

1.  A. Morassi, G.B. Tiepolo, London 1962, reproduced fig. 265
2.  G. Knox, Tiepolo, A Bicentenary Exhibition, exhib. cat., Cambridge, Mass., Fogg Art Museum, 1970, no. 36, reproduced 
3.  Inv. no. 37. 165. 27;  J. Bean and F. Stampfle, Drawings from New York Collections, III, The Eighteenth Century in Italy, exhib. cat., New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Pierpont Morgan Library, 1971, p. 55, no. 111, reproduced
4. Paris, Galerie Cailleux, Tiepolo et Guardi, 1952, no. 23, reproduced pl. 6 
5. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lehman Collection, inv. no. 1975.I.443; The Pierpont Morgan Library, inv no. IV, 117^a; J. Bean and F. Stampfle, op. cit., p. 55-6, nos. 112 and 113, reproduced