Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Doucet
J. M. Sert
Victor de Cock

Paris, Galerie Cailleux, Tiepolo et Guardi, November 1952, no. 17

There is unobtrusive foxing throughout the image (visible in the catalogue illustration). The drawing has been hinged to the mount in the upper corners with some attendant cockling. Otherwise, the sheet is in generally good condition.
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 attractive drawing of Cupid and Psyche is most probably a preparatory study for part of a frescoed ceiling project; the proportions of the figures indicate that they were meant to be seen from below, di sotto in sù.

Tiepolo executed numerous studies in pen and ink and wash for his ceiling projects, and although this grouping is not an identical match, our figures do resemble those of Cupid and Psyche in the elaborate project for The Triumph of Hercules, a commission that was never executed but which is documented through preparatory drawings.¹  The present drawing is particularly close to one of the preparatory studies for the ceiling which is now in the Museo Horne, Florence (fig 109 in Giambattista Tiepolo, exhib. cat, op.cit).  In the Horne study the pairing of Cupid and Psyche to the left of the drawing is very close to our sheet. 

The present work is one of a large number of studies that Giambattista Tiepolo executed in pen and two shades of wash with traces of black chalk.  George Knox describes these ceiling designs saying, 'they seem to float in the centre of the page like an arabesque;' he also comments that a number of variations on a theme are frequent and that Tiepolo would make several studies before selecting the final design for the scheme.² 

This sheet and all the other closely related figure studies of this type allow us to witness Tiepolo's creative energy and it is perhaps in his drawings that we come in most intimate contact with the workings of his imagination.³

¹ Giambattista Tiepolo, exhib. cat., Venice, Museo del Veneziano Ca'Rezzonico, 1996 and New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997, p. 287, figs. 109 and 110

² G Knox, Catalogue of the Tiepolo Drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1960, p. 14

³ Keith Christiansen, 'The Fiery Poetic Fantasy of Giambattista Tiepolo,' in Giambattista Tiepolo, exhib. cat. op.cit, p. 284