Two Allegorical Figures

Artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696 - 1770)

Date1760

CultureItalian

MediumFresco transferred to canvas

ClassificationPaintings

ProvenanceProbably painted for the Palazzo Valle-Marchesini-Sala, Vicenza. Before 1909, Baron Giorgio Franchetti (1865–1922), Cannes; Atillio Simonetti (1843–1925), Rome; by inheritance to his sons; (sold Simonetti sale, Tavazzi, Rome, 30 April 1932, lot 541). (Adolph Loewi, Los Angeles); acquired by the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, 1951.

Credit LineMuseum purchase, 1951

Object numberSN652

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was the most distinguished artist in 18th-century Europe, and his grand, decorative style epitomizes the Venetian aesthetic of the period. This impressive painting was once a wall fresco decorating a palazzo in Vicenza, and was later detached and transferred to canvas. Painted to appear as bronze sculptures placed against a gray marble backdrop, the human figures, lion, cornucopia, and obelisk create a grouping that symbolizes triumph, glory, and eternity. In its original setting, this work would have been located high on a wall, probably above a doorway or fireplace.

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