Giambattista Tiepolo

Private collection, Paris;
With Michelangelo Gallery, Brescia;
From whom acquired by the present owner.

A. Morassi, A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings of G.B. Tiepolo, Aylesbury 1962, p. 42, reproduced fig. 225 (with incorrect measurements);
A. Pallucchini, L'opera completa di Giambattista Tiepolo, Milan 1968, p. 91, cat. no. 46, reproduced;
E. Martini, La pittura del Settecento veneto, Maniago 1982, p. 510;
M. Gemin and F. Pedrocco, Giambattista Tiepolo, i dipinti, Venice 1993, p. 242, cat. no. 60, reproduced;
F. Pedrocco, Giambattista Tiepolo, The Complete Paintings, New York 2002, p. 205, cat. no. 45, reproduced.

The fragmentary canvas has a recent and firm relining which has not overly flattened the paint surface. It should be noted that the lower right corner of the canvas has been made up by a later addition. The paint surface is under a slightly discoloured varnish but appear to the naked eye in good condition. Inspection under UV light reveals some restored frame abrasion along the edges and some retouching in and around the faces and the wings. Large passages are untouched. Offered in a carved and gilt wooden frame in good condition.
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Extensively published by numerous Tiepolo scholars, all of whom have agreed on this work's autograph status, the dating of this fragmentary canvas has, however, caused some disagreement. Morassi, the first scholar to publish the painting, dated it to 1720-25, around the same time as Tiepolo's frescoes in the Cappella del Sacramento in the cathedral in Udine.¹ Shortly thereafter Pallucchini proposed a slightly later dating of 1726, while Martini and later Pedrocco have dated the work to 1722, comparing it stylistically to the monumental Madonna del Carmel with Saints in Brera, Milan.²


1. See Gemin and Pedrocco, under Literature, p. 250, cat. nos. 75-77, reproduced.
2. Idem, p. 241, cat. no. 59, reproduced.