Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Prince Alexis Orloff,
his sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Dessins par G.-B. Tiepolo, Composant la Collection de Son Excellence feu le Prince Alexis Orloff, 30 April 1920, lot 148

G. Knox, 'The Orloff Album of Tiepolo Drawings', The Burlington Magazine, vol. CIII, no. 699, June 1961, p. 273, no. O.148 and p. 275, no. 66

Hinge mounted along the upper edge. There are some minor light brown stains along the upper edge and a small crease to the lower right corner. Otherwise in very fine condition with the medium fresh and vibrant throughout.
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.

Knox, in his 1961 article, discusses the present work within the context of a series of small drawings that he dates to the 1750s, stating, as seems still to be the case, that the present work does not appear to relate to any known painting by Tiepolo, but was in all likelihood a form of "drawing for drawings sake".

In the same article, Knox goes on to discuss the provenance of the Orloff album, which contained a collection of drawings by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (see Literature).  It is not known exactly how the album was acquired by the Orloff family but there seem to be two possibilities.  It has been proposed that the album may have been purchased by Prince Alexis Orloff in a sale in 1885, when aged only 18.  However, an alternative suggestion is that the album may have been part of the family collection, to quote Knox, ‘almost certainly descended from a certain Gregory Vladimirovitch Orloff (1777-1826); this gentleman was the son of Vladimir Grigorievitch Orloff who in 1766 became President of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and his four uncles (as well as his father) were prominent men in the Russia of Catherine the Great.’  Knox is of the opinion that the latter suggestion is the most likely line of provenance.