Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
1696-1770
Apotheosis of Merit
11 /12 x 14 inches (292 x 355 mm)
Pen and brown ink, gray-brown wash, over black chalk, on paper.
IV, 105
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.
Notes
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".
The allegorical figure of Virtue, who appears at the upper left in this drawing, is identified by her lance; Nobility, at the lower right, holds a wreath in her right hand; Merit is a bearded warrior crowned with laurel. The sheet is a study for Giambattista Tiepolo's ceiling fresco Nobility and Virtue Accompanying Merit to the Temple of Glory, in the Ca' Rezzonico, located on Venice's Grand Canal. The artist is thought to have received the commission in 1756 or 1757. --Exhibition Label, from "Tiepolo, Guardi, and Their World: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Drawings"
The allegorical figure of Virtue, who appears at the upper left in this drawing, is identified by her lance; Nobility, at the lower right, holds a wreath in her right hand; Merit is a bearded warrior crowned with laurel. The sheet is a study for Giambattista Tiepolo's ceiling fresco Nobility and Virtue Accompanying Merit to the Temple of Glory, in the Ca' Rezzonico, located on Venice's Grand Canal. The artist is thought to have received the commission in 1756 or 1757. --Exhibition Label, from "Tiepolo, Guardi, and Their World: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Drawings"
Associated names
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.
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.
Bibliography
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, IV, 105.
George Knox, Catalogue of the Tiepolo Drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1960, p. 33 note 62.
Cambridge, MA., Fogg Art Museum, Tiepolo, A Bicentenary Exhibition, 1770-1970, 1970, under no. 77.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Drawings from New York Collections III, The 18th Century in Italy, 1971, p. 62, no. 140, repr.
George Knox, Catalogue of the Tiepolo Drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1960, p. 33 note 62.
Cambridge, MA., Fogg Art Museum, Tiepolo, A Bicentenary Exhibition, 1770-1970, 1970, under no. 77.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Drawings from New York Collections III, The 18th Century in Italy, 1971, p. 62, no. 140, repr.
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