Search Results

Image 1 of 1

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, artist
Italian, 1696 - 1770
The Empire of Flora, circa 1743
oil on canvas
28 1/4 x 35 (71.8 x 88.9 cm)
Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 61.44.19

Zoom this image

Artist Credit: all

Artist Biography: The greatest Italian painter of the eighteenth century, Tiepolo established himself on the Venetian art scene at a precociously early age. First recorded as a member of the painters' guild (Fraglia) in 1717, Tiepolo had already become court painter and artistic advisor to Doge Giovanni Cornaro in 1716 at the age of twenty. The late baroque Venetian artist Gregorio Lazzarini was Tiepolo's initial teacher. However, the influence of other masters is evident, including that of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. Tiepolo later adopted the more decorative palette of his contemporary Sebastiano Ricci and of the sixteenth-century artist Paolo Veronese. This blond tonality is not only well suited to the artistic preferences of the rococo but is also a characteristic of the fresco medium. In addition to easel paintings and altarpieces, Tiepolo produced numerous fresco decorations for both churches and secular buildings in Venice, the Veneto, and in many European cities. The most famous of these cycles is in the Residenz at Wurzburg, where Tiepolo and his sons, Giovanni Domenico and Lorenzo, worked at the invitation of Prince-Bishop Karl Phillip von Greiffenklau from 1750 to 1753. Returning to Venice, Tiepolo became president of the Venetian academy in 1755, before going to Madrid in 1762 to work for Charles 111. With his death the great tradition of Venetian decorative painting came to an end.~~~Reference: Rizzi, Aldo. The Etchings of the Tiepolos. London: Phaidon Press, 1971.~De Vesme, Baudi. Le Peintre-Graveur Italien. Milan, 1906~

Related Keywords
Flora of Empire The Kress H Samuel Gift Europe Venice Italy Painting canvas oil Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Italian 7852312241910003 A303362 61.44.19 EPTG