Fun Facts: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 1696-1770
Tiepolo, The Glorification of the Barbaro Family, ca. 1750, Metropolitan Museum
Tiepolo, An Allegory with Venus and Time, 1754, National Gallery, UK
Tiepolo, Seated Man, Woman with Jar, and Boy, 1740-46, National Gallery, UK
In honor of Tiepolo’s birthday being in March, I thought I’d share some fun facts about this wonderfully talented draftsman and painter.
He was trained by Gregorio Lazzarini (1655-1730).
He was considered the greatest Rococo painter but his style was founded in the manner of the High Renaissance.
He completed many altarpieces and large-scale, decorative frescoes, in palaces, churches, and villas, which have a light, airy/atmospheric feel and are light in color.
His subjects often dealt with ancient history, religion, Gods and Saints, and mythology.
By combining deep perspective and retaining compositional clarity, Tiepolo revolutionized fresco decoration/painting.
His compositions have a zig-zag pattern, which help give the illusion of space/depth and expanding into heaven.
At the time, he was known as the “new Veronese” because of his ability to mimic the color in Paolo Veronese’s work.
One of his contemporaries considered his imagination to be “all spirit and fire.”
He completed 2,400 drawings, 2 sets of etchings, and acres of frescoes in his lifetime.
Sources: nationalgallery.org.uk, nga.gov, getty.edu
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