Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

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1727-1804

Scene of Contemporary Life: The Picture Show

1791

Pen and brown and black ink and wash over black chalk.

11 3/8 x 16 3/8 inches (289 x 415 mm)

Thaw Collection.

2017.253

Inscription:

Signed and dated by the artist in pen and black ink on titulus affixed to column, "Dom.o Tiepol [cut off] / [illegible] / [illegible] / 1791".

Provenance:

Alfred Beurdeley; his sale, Paris, Rahir, 31 May 1920, part of an album of 19; Adrien Fauchier-Magnan, Paris; sale, Paris, Palais Galliera, 12 June 1967, lot 159, repr.; Norton Simon, Pasadena; Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw, New York.

Bibliography:

The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 376, repr.
Denison, Cara D. et al. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw. Part II. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1985, no. 24.

Notes:

Watermark: three crescents in descending size, over letters "SOTO IMPERIAL" (cf. Heawood 867).
In another of the Scenes of Contemporary Life produced late in his career, Domenico Tiepolo presents an itinerant showman or storyteller with a guitar slung over his shoulder. He expounds upon a painting, drawing, or print mounted on the wall before him, but it is not clear what the picture represents, or what story is being told. The basket alongside him is filled with bits of paper that may be receipts or subscriptions, and he has drawn a crowd that contains both sailors and aristocrats. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"

Watermark: