Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770)

A study of the head of an old man; and two studies of heads, one apparently representing the Three Ages of Man, another of Rinaldo (?), drawn on separate small sheets each laid down at the upper corners on the principal sheet

Details

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770)
A study of the head of an old man; and two studies of heads, one apparently representing the Three Ages of Man, another of Rinaldo (?), drawn on separate small sheets each laid down at the upper corners on the principal sheet
with subsidiary architectural studies in black chalk on the main sheet
black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash (1); pen and grey ink, grey wash (2 and 3), the lower corners cut (1)
97/8 x 8 in. (250 x 203 mm.) overall

Provenance

Given by the artist to the Library of the Somasco Convent, Santa Maria della Salute, Venice.
Count Leopoldo Cicognara.
Antonio Canova.
Monsignor Giovanni Battista Sartori-Canova.
Francesco Pesaro.
Edward Cheney, Badger Hall, Shropshire, by 1842, to his nephew,
Alfred Capel-Cure, Blake Hall, Essex; Sotheby's, 29 April 1885, part of lot 1024 (to E. Parsons).
with the Savile Gallery, London, 1928.
with Thos. Agnew & Sons.

Lot Essay

The drawing is from a series of fantastic heads from the same provenance as that containing the series of variations on the theme of the Holy Family (see lot 54). The drawings were probably executed as independent designs and cannot be directly associated with any paintings. Professor Knox dates these drawings to circa 1760, G. Knox, Tiepolo, A Bicentenary Exhibition, 1770-1970, exhib. cat., Fogg Art Museum, 1970, under no. 93. Other drawings of heads from the album, all of which are of the same size, were sold at Christie's London, 20 April 1993, lot 138 and Christie's New York, 30 January 1998, lots 128-9.

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