Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
"Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (Giandomenico), child and student of late-Baroque/early-Rococo artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Giambattista), initially worked as an assistant who transferred his master’s small oil sketches into full-scale works within palaces and churches. By age 13 Giandomenico became chief assistant. By 20 Domenico could produce masterful works independently – though arguably always within the father’s shadow.
The father, greatest painter of the 18th century, last of the “Grand Manner” frescoists, and one of three great Venetian late-Renaissance painters with Titian and Tintoretto, produced work characteristically airy, flamboyant, joyous, fantastic, sunny and bright, with a theatrical grandeur of Rubens.
For years (1750-1770) Giandomenico helped his father complete frescoes throughout Europe – mainly illusionistic ceilings with heavenly, floating figures. In early collaborations Domenico’s hand blends almost imperceptibly. It becomes progressively easier to pick out Giandomenico’s contributions as he slowly acquires his own style. After Giambattista’s death (1770) the divergence continues. Giandomenico retains his father’s decorative qualities and Veronese-inspired color but his thematic-content differs, becoming less religious, mythological, fanciful –more realistic, with portraits and scenes from Venetian life.
Giandomenico’s late works include several lengthy series. One stands out particularly: his “Punchinello” series – 104 works. Punchinello (Pulcinella) was a standard character of Commedia dell’arte, a popular form of traveling theater, using stock situations/characters with improvised dialogue. The hunchback clown, chases women; he later provided the model for “Punch” in the English puppet theatre “Punch and Judy.”
Forever influenced by his master, the “Punch” works – evidently a striking departure – may derive obliquely from Giambattista. Battista owned an album of 17th-century French costume-design, stemming from Commedia, from which he drew fanciful figures/heads made-up like magicians or philosophers. Purdue’s Domenico etching of the bearded man, “Teste (Head),” though it recalls the father’s work, shows Domenico’s skillful draftsmanship and his cognizance of etching’s unique qualities.
"