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".
Giambattista Tiepolo typically explored a wide range of alternative approaches to the depiction of a theme in freely drawn studies in pen and wash over fleeting indications in black chalk. This exceptionally spontaneous drawing is one of four sheets--three of which belong to the Morgan--that the artist made in preparation for The Glory of St. Dominic, a fresco of 1737-39 on the ceiling of the church of Santa Maria del Rosario (also known as the Gesuati), Venice. --Exhibition Label, from "Tiepolo, Guardi, and Their World: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Drawings"
Watermark: letters "FC".
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.
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, IV, 99.
Fairfax Murray, IV, 99; Benesch, Venetian Drawings, no. 18, repr.
Larissa Salmina, "Some Drawings by Giuseppe Petrini," Burlington Magazine, CII, 1960, pp. 118, 121, fig. 24 (wrongly as Petrini).
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Drawings from New York Collections III, The 18th Century in Italy, 1971, pp. 43-44, no. 67, repr.