Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
1696-1770
Nobility and Virtue
10 15/16 x 9 15/16 inches (278 x 253 mm)
Pen and brown-black ink, gray wash, over black chalk, on paper.
IV, 107
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.
Notes
One of a series of 108 drawings by Giambattista Tiepolo from an album bearing the title, "TIEPOLO DESSINS ORIGINAUX", inscribed by Edward Cheney, "E.C. Venice 1852 May 31 / bought from the Conte Corniani Algarotti".
Nobility (identified by the statuette of Minerva in her upraised right hand) and Virtue (who is depicted with a lance and, on her chest, an image of the sun) appear together in several ceiling frescoes that the artist painted during the 1740s. Typically, none of the four closely related drawings of the subject in the Morgan's collection can be firmly associated with a particular fresco. Rather, they belonged to a repertory of motifs that Giambattista Tiepolo retained in his studio for use in connection with more than one project. --Exhibition Label, from "Tiepolo, Guardi, and Their World: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Drawings"
Watermark: none.
Nobility (identified by the statuette of Minerva in her upraised right hand) and Virtue (who is depicted with a lance and, on her chest, an image of the sun) appear together in several ceiling frescoes that the artist painted during the 1740s. Typically, none of the four closely related drawings of the subject in the Morgan's collection can be firmly associated with a particular fresco. Rather, they belonged to a repertory of motifs that Giambattista Tiepolo retained in his studio for use in connection with more than one project. --Exhibition Label, from "Tiepolo, Guardi, and Their World: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Drawings"
Watermark: none.
Associated names
Algarotti, Francesco, conte, 1712-1764, former owner.
Algarotti, Bonomo, 1706-1776, former owner.
Algarotti-Corniani, Maria, former owner.
Corniani, Bernardino conte, former owner.
Cheney, Edward, 1803-1884, former owner.
Cure, Alfred Capel, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Morgan, J. P. (John Pierpont), 1867-1943, former owner.
Algarotti, Bonomo, 1706-1776, former owner.
Algarotti-Corniani, Maria, former owner.
Corniani, Bernardino conte, former owner.
Cheney, Edward, 1803-1884, former owner.
Cure, Alfred Capel, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Morgan, J. P. (John Pierpont), 1867-1943, former owner.
Bibliography
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, IV, 107.
Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts, Five Centuries of Drawings, 1953, no. 63, repr.; 1910.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Drawings from New York Collections III, The 18th Century in Italy, 1971, p. 52, no. 103, repr.
Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts, Five Centuries of Drawings, 1953, no. 63, repr.; 1910.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Drawings from New York Collections III, The 18th Century in Italy, 1971, p. 52, no. 103, repr.
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