喬瓦尼‧多梅尼科‧帖波洛

Dr. Mino Forti, Venice, 1951
Sale: Christie's, New York, April 6, 2006, lot 86 (as The Charlatan)
Robilant & Voena, London, 2010
Acquired from the above by A. Alfred Taubman

Venice, Mostra del Tiepolo, 1951, no. 121 (as The Charlatan)
São Paolo, Brazil, Da Caravaggio a Tiepolo, Pittura Italiana del XVII e XVIII Secolo, 1954, no. 111
Milan, Villa Comunale, Mostra del Settecento Veneziano, 1955, no. 71

Giulio Lorenzetti, ed., Mostra del Tiepolo (exhibition catalogue), Venice, 1951, p. 170, no. 121, illustrated pl. LIV (as The Charlatan)
G. Ronci, ed.; Da Caravaggio a Tiepolo, Pittura Italiana del XVII e XVIII Secolo (exhibition catalogue), São Paolo, 1954, p. 128, no. 111
Mostra del Settecento Veneziano (exhibition catalogue), Milan, Villa Comunale, 1955, p. 24, no. 71
J. Byam Shaw, The Drawings of Domenico Tiepolo, Boston, 1962, discussed p. 87
Adriano Mariuz, Giandomenico Tiepolo, Venice, 1971, pp. 135 and 146, illustrated fig. 196
Rodolfo Pallucchini, "La vena satirica di Giandomenico Tiepolo," La pittura nel Veneto, il Seicento, vol. II, Milan, 1996, p. 579

In addition to collaborations with his father on religious and allegorical subjects, Giandomenico developed a personal interest in genre subjects and his carefully observed depictions of Venetian daily life, of which this work is a prime example, are some of his most distinctive creations.

The theme of the toothpuller or quack dentist is one that clearly appealed to Giandomenico as he returned to it on numerous occasions.  In this painting we observe a curious crowd standing around a raised platform on which a bewigged man in a long coat is standing and holding forth.  It is presumably during Carnevale as several of the onlookers wear the traditional costume of the black cape, mask and tricorn hat.  Next to the man on stage is a table set with a box and various bottles of potions.  He is apparently preparing to cure the toothaches of the two “patients” on stage with him who clutch their jaws in pain.  Another version of this painting was formerly in the Blake collection, Kansas City, and a related drawing was formerly in the Beurdeley collection (respectively, A. Mariuz, op.cit., p. 135, illustrated fig. 195; and J.B. Shaw, op.cit., cat. no. 66, illustrated).  The composition was engraved by Fabbio Berardi in 1779.