1 / 1

download image
This image is in the public domain. You can copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. Learn more about our image policies.

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Scene from Ancient History, c. 1750

West Building, Main Floor - Gallery 32

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall (oval): 140.3 x 109.3 cm (55 1/4 x 43 1/16 in.)

framed: 165.7 x 134.6 cm (65 1/4 x 53 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1939.1.365

Artists / Makers

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (artist) Venetian, 1696 - 1770

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Provenance

Almorò Barbaro [b. 1681], Venice; by descent to Marc Antonio Barbaro [d. 1860]; his sister, Elissa Bassi; sold to (Vicenzo Favenza), by 1866; sold to an unidentified Frenchman, probably a dealer;[1] (Palazzo Barbaro sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 9 February 1874, no. 3); Isaac, comte de Camondo [1851-1911], Paris;[2] (his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 13 February 1893, no. 27); (Eugène Féral);[3] Baron Adolph Carl de Rothschild [1823-1900], Château de Pregny, near Geneva.[4] Dr. Joseph Kranz, Vienna, by 1902.[5] Stefan von Auspitz, Vienna, by 1931;[6] Possibly Daniel George van Beuningen [1877-1955]; (K.W. Bachstitz, The Hague);[7] purchased 1937 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[8] gift 1939 to NGA.

[1] Information about the sale of furnishings and works of art from the Palazzo Barbaro in the 1860s is contained in a letter of 9 February 1924 from Frank Lattimer to B. Burroughs of the Metropolitan Museum (archival envelope, Apotheosis of Francesco Barbaro, Metropolitan Museum, New York). Lattimer was the cousin of Ralph Curtis, then owner of the palace, and found this information in files assembled at the palazzo by Mrs. Curtis.

[2] According to marginal notations in the sale catalogue housed in the Frick Art Reference Library, New York.

[3] According to marginal notations in the Knoedler Fiche copy of the sale catalogue; Cammondo is not named anywhere on the catalogue, but Lugt, vol. 4, No. 51324, lists this as Cammondo's sale. Féral, named as a painter and authority for the paintings included in the sale, may have been acting as agent for Baron Adolph de Rothschild, who is said in a prospectus from the Bachstitz Gallery (in NGA curatorial files; see also note 4) to have purchased the painting at the Cammondo sale.

[4] The prospectus from the Bachstitz Gallery, in NGA curatorial files, states that the painting was presented by Baron Adolphe (sic) von Rothschild of Paris to his daughter on the occasion of her marriage to a Baron von Springer of Vienna, and was subsequently purchased from Baron von Springer's estate by Dr. Kranz. However, Baron Adolphe, though married, died childless. The Getty Provenance Index suggested instead (letter of 15 March 1993 from Martha Hepworth to Eric Garberson, NGA curatorial files) that the painting passed to Adolphe's niece, Valentine Noémi de Rothschild (1886-1969), who in 1911 married Baron Sigismund von Springer (1875-1928), but the painting was already in the collection of Dr. Kranz by 1902.

[5] Catalogued by Heinrich Modern, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Eine Studie, Vienna, 1902: 52 in the Kranz collection.

[6] Borenius, Italian Paintings of the Auspitz Collection, 12, 67, nos. 49-50. This publication cannot be located, but is cited in Tancred Borenius, "The Stefan von Auspitz Collection", Burlington Magazine 61 (1932): 283-288. Borenius 1932: 287, noted that the dissolution of the Auspitz collection in 1932 was necessitated by the Austrian financial crisis of 1931.

[7] Bulletin of the Bachstitz Gallery 1935: 22. When the von Auspitz collection was liquidated in 1932 some or all of it was sold through Bachstitz, while some was acquired by collector Daniel George von Beuningen, and consigned for sale to Bachstitz. The Tiepolo was with Bachstitz by c. 1932, according to a letter inquiring about the painting dated 18 April 1933 from the firm of Jacques Seligmann, New York (Seligmann papers, Archives of American Art, Box 11, copy NGA curatorial files).

[8] See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1922.

Associated Names

Auspitz, Stefan
Bachstitz Gallery
Barbaro, Almorò
Barbaro, Marc Antonio
Bassi, Elissa
Beuningen, Daniel George van
Camondo, Isaac, comte de
Drouot, Hôtel
Favenza, Vicenzo
Féral, Eugène
Galerie Georges Petit
Kranz, Joseph, Dr.
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Rothschild, Adolphe de, Baron
Springer, von, Baron

Exhibition History

1932: An Exhibition of the Von Auspitz Collection of Old Masters by Courtesy of Herr Walter Bachstitz, Thos. Agnew & Sons, London, 1932, no. 24.

1938: Exhibition of Venetian Painting from the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1938, no. 61, repro., as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander.

1938: Paintings, Drawings and Prints by the Two Tiepolos--Giambattista and Giandomenico, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1938, no. 23.

1938: Special Exhibition of Venetian Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, Seattle Art Museum; Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Alabama, August-October 1938, no catalogue.

1938: Tiepolo and His Contemporaries, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1938, no. 15, repro., as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander.

1939: Dutch and Italian Masterpieces from the Samul H. Kress Collection, Dayton Art Institute, 1939-1940, no. cat.

1939: Masterworks of Five Centuries, Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939, no. 53, repro.

1940: Masterpieces of Art. European & American Paintings 1500-1900, New York World's Fair, 1940, no. 38, as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander (catalogue titled Catalogue of European & American Paintings 1500-1900, introduction and descriptions by W

1961: Exhibition of Art Treasures for America from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1961-1962, no. 93A.

1996: Giambattista Tiepolo: 1696 - 1996, Museo del Settecento Veneziano - Ca'Rezzonico, Venice; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1996-1997, no. 21b, repro.

Technical Summary

The support is a plain-weave, medium coarse fabric. The double ground consists of an initial red layer covered by a yellow layer, which was brushed on thickly overall and has a pebbled texture. The paint was applied in thick, heavy layers that are highly opaque and do not allow the color of the ground to show through. The broad, textured brushstrokes, applied wet-into-wet, produced a moderate to heavy impasto. The borders between different compositional elements are not blended, but are often defined by a fluid contour line. The drapery was executed with thick, heavy strokes compared to the fainting woman's thinly painted fingers, which are articulated with finely textured strokes and outlined with a liquid stroke of brown-red glaze. In some areas, such as the ornaments on her shoulder, dry paint was dragged across the surface. X-radiographs reveal that the arch behind the figures was slightly modified and the head of the crowned figure has been shifted to the right.

In 1938 the painting was relined, discolored varnish was removed, and the painting was restored by Stephen Pichetto. It was conserved most recently in 1992-1993 by Susanna P. Griswold, who removed discolored varnish and restored the painting.

Bibliography

1845: Fontana, Gianjacopo. Venezia Monumentale: I Palazzi. Venice, 1845-1863. Reprint, edited by Lino Moretti. Venice, 1967: 172.

1902: Modern, Heinrich. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Eine Studie. Vienna, 1902: 52.

1907: Goering, Max. "Tiepolo." In Thieme-Becker. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 33(1938):148.

1909: Molmenti, Pompeo. G. B. Tiepolo. La sua vita e le sue opere. Milan, 1909: 275-276, repro.

1910: Sack, Eduard. Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo. Ihr Leben und Ihre Werke. Hamburg, 1910: 150, fig. 137, 203.

1911: Molmenti, Pompeo. G. B. Tiepolo. Paris, 1911: 210, pl. 227.

1932: Borenius, Tancred. "The Stefan von Auspitz Collection." The Burlington Magazine 61 (1932): 288.

1938: Middeldorf, Ulrich. "Eine Tiepolo Austellung in Chicago." Pantheon 21 (1938): 146, repro.

1938: Siple, Ella. "Art In America: Three Exhibitions of Eighteenth-Century Art." The Burlington Magazine 72 (1938): 238.

1941: Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 193, no. 458, pl. XII, as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander.

1942: Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 249, repro. 193, as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander.

1942: Lorenzetti, Giulio. Das Jahrhundert Tiepolos. Vienna, 1942: XXVI.

1944: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 126, color repro., as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander.

1945: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 145, repro., as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander.

1951: Lorenzetti, Giuliu. Mostra del Tiepolo. Exh. cat. Palazzo ai Giardini Pubblici, Venice, 1951: 85, under no. 63.

1951: Vigni, Giorgio. Tiepolo. Milan, 1951: unpaginated (listed under 1743-1750), fig. 78.

1955: Morassi, Antonio. G. B. Tiepolo. His Life and Work. London, 1955: 22.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 248, repro., as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander.

1961: Olsen, Harald. Italian Paintings and Sculpture in Denmark. Amsterdam, 1961: 92.

1962: Morassi, Antonio. A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings of G. B. Tiepolo. London, 1962: 67, fig. 287.

1965: Garas, Klára. "Allegorie und Geschichte in der venezianischen Malerei des 18. Jahrhunderts." Acta Historiae Artium 11 (1965): 294.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 127, as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 113, repro., as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander.

1968: Pallucchini, Anna. L'opera completa di Giambattista Tiepolo. Milan, 1968: 114, no. 190D, repro.

1972: Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 198.

1973: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XVI-XVIII Century. London, 1973: 147-148, fig. 281.

1973: Zeri, Federico, and Elizabeth Gardner. Italian Paitnings. A Catalogue of the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Venetian School. New York, 1973: 56.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 338, repro., as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander.

1978: Levey, Michael. "Three Slight Revisions to Tiepolo Scholarship." Arte Veneta 32 (1978): 419.

1979: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:443-445; 2:pl. 322, 322A, as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 345, no. 472, color repro., as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 388, repro., as Timocleia and the Thracian Commander.

1987: Aikema, Bernard. "La decorazione di Palazzo Barbaro-Curtis a Venezia fino alla metà del settecento." Arte Veneta 41 (1987): 150, fig. 9.

1987: Bell, Daniel O. "Tiepolo's 'Betrothal': A Virtue in the History of Women." Arte Veneta 41 (1987): 159-162, fig. 2.

1987: Chiappini, Ileana, in article by Antonio Zanchi. "Pietro Zampetti." I pittori bergamaschi 4 (1987): 578-579.

1991: Müller, Mechtild. In Gode Krämer, ed. Die Karl und Magdalene Haberstock-Stiftung, Gemälde und Zeichnungen. Exh. cat. Städtische Kunstsammlungen, Augsburg. Munich, 1991: 60-63, under no. 17, repro.

1993: Gemin, Massimo, and Filippo Pedrocco. Giambattista Tiepolo. Venice, 1993: 408-409, no. 392, repro.

1996: De Grazia, Diane, and Eric Garberson, with Edgar Peters Bowron, Peter M. Lukehart, and Mitchell Merling. Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 264-272, color repro. 267.

2002: Pedrocco, Filippo. Giambattista Tiepolo. Milan, 2002: no. 212/5, repro.