Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Sale, London, Sotheby's, 4 July 2012, lot 46;

sale, London, Christie's, 6 July 2021, lot 14;

With Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, London

S. Ongpin, Master Draughtsmen of the Venetian Settecento: Drawings by Giovanni Battista and Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, London 2017, no. 2, reproduced

Wonderfully vibrant and animated, this sheet of studies, executed in pen and ink and wash, perfectly demonstrates Tiepolo's skill as a draughtsman.

Here Tiepolo has put together, in an elegant mise en page, an ensemble cast of expressive heads, including satyrs and the head of a Bacchus. The vibrant effect of his penwork and the dexterous use of light and shade suggest that this, like many of Tiepolo's virtuoso drawings, was executed for its own sake and quite possibly for his amusement. These sheets are quite rare: in fact Giovanni Battista seems to have been much more inclined to draw single heads than composite studies such as this one.

Other comparable drawings include: Four Masks and a Swag of Fruit in the Morgan Library & Museum, New York and A man wearing a fanciful plumed hat, an oriental, a young boy and a man with a ruff and tall hat, sold in these Rooms in 2012.¹

¹Respectively: Morgan Library & Museum, New York, inv.no. 1997.45; and sale, New York, Sotheby's, 25 January 2012, lot 95