Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Bernard Aikema, 'Some Early Drawings by Giambattista Tiepolo', Master Drawings, 42, no. 4, 2004, pp. 365, 367, reproduced p. 366, figs. 6 and 7

Generally in good condition. An old fold in the middle of the sheet . The paper at all four corners has little folds and has wrinkled . One or two barley visible pin holes and two very small tears just on top of the medallion on the left and at the lower margin . Slightly stained towards the top right corner and a small light brown stain to the far left in the middle of the sheet. Two or three very litlle stains not at all noticeable towards the bottom of the sheet. The verso sketches are slightly visible when looking at the recto. Pen and ink still fresh. Sold in an 18th century Venetian carved wooden frame.
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This is a very handsome and rare example of Giambattista's early style.  Bernard Aikema, in his fascinating article of 2004, dates it to the early 1720s, proposing that Tiepolo's studies such as this of large and elaborate decorated vases may have been drawn in preparation for paintings, as they feature prominently in a number of the artist's early works.  He suggests that both the recto and the verso of the present sheet could be preparatory for the canvas in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, the subject of which is tentatively identified as Scipio Liberating Massiva (fig.1).¹  A very similar ornamental vase is seen in this painting, on the base to the left of Scipio's throne, and, even more fascinating, Aikema also noticed that the steps of the throne are ornamented with the same decorative motifs that are studied on the verso of this sheet.  He further points out that the nude figures on the vase are very close, and datable to the same moment as others drawn by the young Tiepolo on the recto of a sheet now in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne.²

In the present example the sculptural effect of the figures and the prominent use of chiaroscuro to define them are strongly influenced by the style of Piazzetta.  But while the figures, particularly the two male nudes, are reminiscent of his teacher, the young Giambattista demonstrates his own very great and original talent in inventing these individual decorative designs, which were to become an characteristic and important aspect of his later work.

1.  For a detail, see Literature, p. 367, fig. 9; for the painting, see A. Morassi, A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings of G. B. Tiepolo, London 1962, fig. 302 (subject identified as: Jugurtha before the Roman Consul)

2.  Inv. no. 1959/52; C. Hoper and U. Westfehling, Tiepolo und die Zeichenkunst Venedig im 18. Jahrhundert, exhib. cat., Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie and Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, 1996-97, pp. 46-48, no. 3, reproduced p. 47