Monday, October 29, 2007

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770)


Born in Venice in 1696; died at Madrid, 27 March, 1770. The son of a sea-captain and marine merchant, who left behind him a considerable fortune, Tiepolo married, in 1721, Cecilia, the sister of the painter Guardi, by whom he had nine children. His earliest master was Lazzerini, but his artistic career was derived from a careful study of the works of Titian, Piazzeta, Ricci, and especially Veronese. Up to 1750 he worked in Venice and various places in the north of Italy, painting some remarkable works at Milan, in Brescia, and in one or two villages near Venice. He then, accompanied by his son, travelled to Wurzburg, where he resided for three years, executing some magnificent ceiling paintings in the palace of the archbishop. He was back again in Venice in 1753, full of commissions, elected President of the Academy of Padua, and holding high distinction in his native town. In 1761 he accepted the invitation of Charles III, King of Spain, to come to that country to decorate the royal palace of Madrid. Unfortunately, during his residence there he incurred the jealousy and the bitter opposition of Raphael Mengs. He is the last of the great Venetian painters; his works are magnificent in force, brilliance, and skill. As a draughtsman and colourist, few have approached him; as an etcher, he took a high position. - Malaspina Biography

Books from Alibris: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This biografy was short and simple.It only talked about the most imporatant parts of Giambattista's life.That was good. The one thing I didn't like was rhe fact of there not been other languages. In other pages like the wikipedia you can do this but here you can't. I recomend highly to add this option to readers like myself!!!!