TIEPOLO, te-Vpi..)-16, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1096-1770). The last great master of the Venetian school of painting. Of his life hardly anything is known. He was not a member of the celebrated family of Tiepolo, as has been sup posed. He was born April 5. 1696, and at an early age was placed with the painter Lazzarini, a mannerist, whom he soon left for Piazzetta. He was, however, more influenced by the great mas ters of the past, especially by Veronese. It is impossible to fix the dates for his pictures before 1737. We know that he was famous long be fore that, and was patronized by the Doge Cor naro and noble Venetian families, and by many cities and churches in Northern Italy. The first of his principal works that can with certainty he dated are the beautiful decorations of the Villa Valmerann at Vicenza, executed in 1737. The subjects are taken from Homer, Vergil, Ariosto, and Tasso. In freshness and charm, in conception and te4nique, they bear favorable comparison with Veronese's masterpieces in the Villa Maser, fn 1739 followed the three ceil ing decorations in Santa Maria del Rosario (Venice), including the "Institution of the Rosary," and in 1743-44 those of the church of the Sealzi, the chief of which represents "Angels Bearing the Casa Santa from Nazareth to Loreto." To the same period belong the ceiling paintings of the Pala zzo Pezzonieo, and about 1745 be decorated the grand hall of the Palazzo Labia. The ceiling is highly fantastic, and the illusive architectural decorations of the walls form an admirable framing for two of his best frescoes, "Cleopatra's Banquet" and the "Embarkment of Cleopatra and Anthony." The date of his dec orations in the archiepiscopal palace at Udine, one of his best works, is not known.
Under the patronage of Karl Philipp of Grei fenklan, Bishop of Wiirzburg, Tiepolo passed the years 1750-53 in that. city, engaged in decorating the episcopal (now the royal) palace. On the lofty ceiling over the grand staircase he painted frescoes of "Olympus" and of the "Four Quar ters of the Earth:" in the Kaisersaal. three scenes from the life of Frederick Barbarossa; in the chapel, two large 'altar-pieces, the "Ascen sion of the Virgin" and the "Fall of the Angels." Returning to Venice in 1754, he became director of the Venetian Academy. Between this time and his departure for Spain he painted another grand ceiling decoration, the "Triumph of Faith," in the C'hiesa della Pieta, and perhaps most of his easel pictures. About March, 1762, he was summoned by King Charles III. to Spain
to decorate the royal palace. In the guard room be painted the "Smithy of Vulcan." in the ante-room an "Apotheosis of Spain," and in the throne-room, magnificent ceiling frescoes of "Spain and Her Provinces." At Madrid he exe cuted most of his etchings, and it was there that he died, March 22, 1770.
In the classical reaction immediately follow ing Tiepolo's death, scant justice was done him, and not until comparatively recent times has he been accorded his place. His art is essen tially decorative, and harmonizes perfectly with the Rococo architecture of the day. The color is light and flaky, and exquisitely delicate, and the treatment of light is above reproach. To a wonderfully rich fantasy and invention he joined an equal facility of execution. Some times he degenerates into extravagances, and what prevents him from ranking with the great est artists of all time is the frivolity of his con ceptions and the artificiality consequent upon the lack of a more direct contact with nature.
Tiepolo's easel pictures show the same grace of form and charm of color as his frescoes, and are more carefully executed. Among the best known are "Christ in the Garden of Olives" and "Calchas and Iphigenia," in the Liechtenstein Gallery at Vienna ; "Saint Catherine of Siena" and an "Adoration of the Kings," in the Im perial Gallery (ib.) ; "Martyrdom of Saint Agatha" and "After the Bath," in the Berlin Museum; the "Immaculate Conception" at Vieenza and Madrid ; and a "Holy Family with Saint Gaetano," in the Venetian Academy. In the Venetian churches are several altar-pieces, like "Madonna in Glory" in the Church of the Jesuits, and "Christ Bearing the Cross" in Sant' Ahiise. His etchings show much taste and neat ness of execution, and in their weird humor and naturalism they resemble those of Goya, whose Capriebos probably inspired Tiepolo's principal series, Scherzi di Fantasia. Of his two sons, who assisted in most of his works, DOMENICO ( 1727 1SO4) etched several of his father's paintings and painted inferior frescoes in his style, while of LORENZO, the younger son, almost nothing is known.
Consult : Zanetti, Della pitt era 1'encziana (Venice, 1771); Urbani de Gheltof, Tiepolo c la sea famiglia (Venice, 1879), and Tiepolo fit Ispagna (Venice, Mil) ; Molmeuti, La rifle Fal marana (Venice, 1880), and Carpaceio c Tic polo (Turin, 1885) ; and the biographies of Wessely, in Doinne's Kunst end Kiia.stler Bailees (Leipzig, 1877)1 Leitschnh (Wtirzburg, 1896) ; and Chennerieres (Paris, 1898).