Successful from the beginning of his career, he has been described byMichael Levey as "the greatest decorative painter of eighteenth-century Europe, as well as its most able craftsman."[2]
Born inVenice, he was the youngest of six children of Domenico and Orsetta Tiepolo.[4] His father was a small shipping merchant[5] who belonged to a family that bore the prestigiouspatrician name of Tiepolo without claiming any noble descent. Some of the children acquired noble godparents, and Giambattista was originally named after his godfather, a Venetian nobleman called Giovanni Battista Dorià. He was baptised on 16 April 1696 in the local church,San Pietro di Castello (then still officially the cathedral of Venice). His father died about a year later, leaving his mother to bring up a family of young children, presumably in somewhat difficult circumstances.[4]
In 1710, he became a pupil ofGregorio Lazzarini, a successful painter with an eclectic style. He was, though, at least equally strongly influenced by his study of the works of other contemporary artists such asSebastiano Ricci,Giovanni Battista Piazzetta andFederico Bencovich,[5] as well those of his Venetian predecessors, especiallyTintoretto andVeronese.[6] A biography of his teacher, published in 1732, says that Tiepolo "departed from [Lazzarini's] studied manner of painting, and, all spirit and fire, embraced a quick and resolute style".[6] His earliest known works are depictions of the apostles, painted inspandrels as part of the decoration ofSanta Maria dei Derelitti in Venice in 1715–6.[7] At about the same time he became painter to the Doge,Giovanni II Cornaro, and oversaw the hanging of pictures at his palace, as well as painting many works himself, of which only two portraits have been identified.[8] He painted his first fresco in 1716, on the ceiling of a church atBiadene, nearTreviso.[9] He probably left Lazzarini's studio in 1717, the year he was received into theFraglia or guild of painters.[6]
In around 1719–20, he painted a scheme of frescoes for the wealthy and recently ennobled publisher Giambattista Baglione in the hall of his villa atMassanzago near Padua. Tiepolo depicted theTriumph of Aurora on the ceiling, and theMyth of Phaethon on the walls, creating the kind of fluid spatial illusion which was to become a recurring theme in his work.[10]
In 1722 he was one of twelve artists commissioned to contribute a painting on canvas of one of the apostles as part of a decorative scheme for the nave ofSan Stae in Venice. The other artists involved included Ricci, Piazetta, and Pellegrini.[11]
In 1719, Tiepolo married noblewomanMaria Cecilia Guardi, sister of two contemporary Venetian painters,Francesco andGiovanni Antonio Guardi. Tiepolo and his wife had nine children, of whom four daughters and three sons survived to adulthood. Two of his sons,Giovanni Domenico andLorenzo, painted with him as his assistants and later achieved some independent recognition, in particular Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo. His children painted figures with a design similar to that of their father, but with distinctive, including genre, styles. His third son became a priest.Fabio Canal,Francesco Lorenzi, andDomenico Pasquini were among his pupils.
Some major commissions came from the patricianDolfin family. Dionisio Dolfin, the Archbishop ofUdine inFriuli employed him to decorate a chapel inUdine Cathedral, and then to paint another cycle depicting episodes from the lives ofAbraham and his descendants from theBook of Genesis at his archiepiscopal palace (the "Arcivescovado")[2](completed 1726–1728). Despite their elevated subject matter, they are bright in colour, and light-hearted in mood: Michael Levey describes the paintings at the palace as "a shimmering set of tableaux, full of wit and elegance".[12] Tiepolo used a muchcooler palette than previous Venetian painters, in order to create a convincing effect of daylight.[13] His first masterpieces in Venice were a cycle of ten enormous canvases painted to decorate a large reception room ofCa' Dolfin on theGrand Canal of Venice (ca. 1726–1729), depicting battles and triumphs from the history of ancient Rome.[11]
Tiepolo produced two sets of etchings, theCapricci (c. 1740–1742) and theScherzi di fantasia (c. 1743–1757). The tencapricci were first published byAnton Maria Zanetti, incorporated into the third edition of a compilation of woodcuts afterParmigianino. They were not published separately until 1785. The subject matter is often bizarre and fantastical, and the works owe a lot to the example ofSalvator Rosa andGiovanni Benedetto Castiglione.[15] The 23 Scherzi were etched over more than ten years and privately circulated, only being commercially published after Tiepolo's death, with numbers and titles added by his son, Giandomenico. Subjects include mysterious Eastern figures, and, in some of the later prints, scenes ofnecromancy.[16]
By 1750, Tiepolo's reputation was firmly established throughout Europe, with the help of his friendFrancesco Algarotti, an art dealer, critic and collector. That year, at the behest of Prince-BishopKarl Philipp von Greifenclau zu Vollraths, he traveled toWürzburg where he arrived in November 1750. He remained there for three years during which he executed ceiling paintings in theNew Residenz palace (completed 1744). He frescoed the Kaisersaal salon in collaboration with his sons Giandomenico and Lorenzo and was then invited to deliver a design for the grandiose entrance staircase (Treppenhaus) designed byBalthasar Neumann. It is a massive ceilingfresco at7287 square feet(677 m2), and was completed in November 1753.[17] HisAllegory of the Planets and Continents depicts Apollo embarking on his daily course; deities around him symbolize the planets; allegorical figures (on the cornice) represent the four continents. He included several portraits in the Europe section of this fresco, including a self-portrait; one of his son Giandomenico; one of the prince-bishop von Greiffenklau; one of the painter Antonio Bossi; and one of the architect,Balthasar Neumann.[18]
Tiepolo returned to Venice in 1753. He was now in demand locally, as well as abroad where he was elected President of the Academy ofPadua. He went on to complete theatrical frescoes for churches; theTriumph of Faith for theChiesa della Pietà; panel frescos forCa' Rezzonico (which now also houses his ceiling fresco from thePalazzo Barbarigo); and paintings for patrician villas in the Venetian countryside, such asVilla Valmarana inVicenza and an elaborate panegyric ceiling for theVilla Pisani inStra.
In some celebrated frescoes at thePalazzo Labia, he depicted two scenes from the life ofCleopatra:Meeting of Anthony and Cleopatra[1] andBanquet of Cleopatra, as well as, in a central ceiling fresco, theTriumph of Bellerophon over Time. Here he collaborated withGirolamo Mengozzi Colonna. This connection with Colonna, who also designed sets for opera, highlights the increasing tendency towards composition as a staged fiction in Tiepolo's frescoes. The architecture of theBanquet fresco also recalls that of Veronese'sWedding at Cana. In 1757, he painted an altar piece for the Thiene family, representing the apotheosis ofSaint Cajetan. It is in the church of hamlet of Rampazzo in theCamisano Vicentino.
Apollo Pursuing Daphne, 1755–1760Manna in the desert
In 1761, KingCharles III of Spain commissioned Tiepolo to create a ceiling fresco to decorate the throne room of theRoyal Palace of Madrid. Thepanegyric theme is theApotheosis of Spain and has allegorical depictions recalling the dominance of Spain in the Americas and across the globe.
He also painted two other ceilings in the palace, and carried out many private commissions in Spain.[19] However, he suffered from the jealousy and the bitter opposition of the rising champion ofNeoclassicism,Anton Raphael Mengs; at the instigation of Mengs' supporter, the King's confessorJoaquim de Electa, had Tiepolo's series of canvases for the church ofSan Pascual atAranjuez replaced by works by his favourite.[19]
After his death, the rise of a stern Neoclassicism and the post-revolutionary decline of absolutism led to the slow decline of the Rococo style associated with his name, but failed to dent his reputation. In 1772, Tiepolo's son[which?] was sufficiently respected to be painter to DogeGiovanni II Cornaro, in charge of the decoration ofPalazzo Mocenigo in thesestiere ofSan Polo,Venice.
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