From Taddeo to Tiepolo: The Dr. John O’Brien Collection of Old Master Drawings
From Taddeo to Tiepolo: The Dr. John O’Brien Collection of Old Master Drawings
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo
The Martyrdom of St. Giustina
Auction Closed
January 27, 09:35 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo
Venice 1727 - 1804
The Martyrdom of St. Giustina
Pen and brown ink and wash over red chalk;
signed twice in brown ink, lower centre: Dom Tiepolo
182 by 281 mm; 7 1/8 by 11 1/8 in
sale, London, Christie's, 11 April 1978, lot 77;
with Armando Neerman, London,
where acquired, circa 1980
Bloomington, Indiana, Indiana University Art Museum, Domenico Tiepolo: Master Draftsman, 1997, (catalogue by A.M. Gealt and G. Knox), no. 48
As alluded to by Gealt and Knox in their 1996-7 exhibition catalogue entries on this drawing, its format clearly suggests it was made as a preparatory study for one of the four corner elements of a very elaborate ceiling decoration. It has not been possible to relate it, thus far, to a known project, however it can be compared in certain respects to a drawing by Giambattista, depicting the same subject, previously part of the celebrated Orloff Album (see lot 274).1When this drawing last appeared at auction in 1977 (see Provenance) the Martyrdom depicted was thought to be that of St. Afra, due in part to the pyre on which she appears to be in the process of being bound. Gealt and Knox subsequently describe it, however, as the Martyrdom of St. Giustina, due to the presence of the sword with which she has been martyred.
1. D. von Hadeln, Handzeichnungen von G.B. Tiepolo, Munich 1927, tav. 125