Marina Magrini, Giambattista Tiepolo and his contemporaries

Translation by Francesco Mazzaferro
CLICK HERE FOR ITALIAN VERSION

Marina Magrini

Giambattista Tiepolo e i suoi contemporanei
[Giambattista Tiepolo and his contemporaries]

in 

Lettere artistiche del Settecento veneziano I
[Art Letters of the Venetian XVIII Century vol I] (pages 29-341)
Edited by Alessandro Bettagno and Marina Magrini

Fondazione Giorgio Cini / Neri Pozza, 2002

Giambattista Tiepolo, The Institution of the Rosary, Church of S. Maria del Rosario, Venice, 1737-1739
Source: Wikimedia Commons

[1] Marina Magrini writes about this collection of letters (pp. 29-30): "... it was decided to bring together the letters scattered in various Italian or foreign collections - some of which are already published in full, while others are only partially published or simply mentioned, and others are unpublished - written or received by Tiepolo. To this first group of letters was added a group of sheets, written by various authors, in which there are significant references to the master or his works. All documents were then arranged chronologically, so as to observe the gradual development of one of the most lively and interesting personalities of the eighteenth century."

Giambattista Tiepolo, The Banquet of Cleopatra, National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne), 1743-1745 ca.
Source: Google Art Project

Giambattista Tiepolo, Discovery of the True Cross, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, 1745
Source: Wikimedia Commons

[2] The correspondence reveals to be a rich source of information on the artist’s private life, on his basically reserved lifestyle, but also on his extraordinary success, since his youth, in the courts and aristocratic circles of Europe and on his wise policy of self-promotion there. It reconstructs the events related to many commissions, from the first works performed in Verona to the extraordinary achievements in Würzburg and to the last, prolonged stay in Spain that ended only with the death, occurred in 1770. And, constant over the decades covered from the letters (apart from the initial request sent to the curia to marry secretly Cecilia Guardi, the first letter of Tiepolo is of 1731 and the last in 1769), is the extreme difficulty by the Venetian artist to live up to his commitments, overburdened by amount of pledges he took with various clients; we can say that the work is at the same time the reason d’être, but also the curse of Giambattista, and that the delays of the painter sometimes risk to lead to veritable diplomatic incidents. For example, in order to make sure that Tiepolo is finally transferred to Madrid to meet his commitments under the crown, Charles III, at the time the Spanish sovereign, exerts such pressures to induce the Venetian ambassador to write home to implore the artist be freed from any other previous commitments (see p. 62).

Giambattista Tiepolo, Allegory of Europe Detail fronr the fresco Apollo and the Continents, Würzburg, 1752-1753
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Giambattista Tiepolo, The Apotheosis of the Pisani family, Villa Pisani (Stra), 1761-1762
Source: Wikimedia Commons

[3] From an examination of the letters also emerge great friendships. One for all, the one with the Venetian nobleman Francesco Algarotti, which lasted from about 1740 until Algarotti’s death (on the theoretical activity of the count, see the Essays edited by Giovanni Da Pozzo in 1963): the letters between the two "are affectionate exchanges between friends, linked by commonality of business: official and private commissions for the collection by Mr Algarotti of whole paintings, figures... in landscapes or architectural compositions by others, repainting and also copies of ancient paintings, to be perhaps re-sold with the name of the original author" (p. 43). Of a more official type "are the letters that the count exchanged with other connoisseurs of the time, like Zanetti or Mariette, in which we find interesting comments and references to the works by Tiepolo" (ditto), or, again, the opinions expressed in reports and documents.

Giambattista Tiepolo, The Apotheosis of Sapnish Monarchy, Royal Palace of Madrid, 1762-1766

Source: Wikimedia Commonshttps://letteraturaartistica.blogspot.com/2017/12/pierre-jean-mariette3.html