Lot Essay
A preparatory study for the lost picture commissioned by Francesco Algarotti in 1743 in Dresden for King Augustus III. A modello for the picture was formerly in the Giusti Collection, Modena, A. Morassi, The Complete Catalogue of the Paintings of G.B. Tiepolo, London, 1962, p. 29, fig. 132. The present sheet is a rare example of a compositional study in pen and ink, drawn in Tiepolo's loosest and most brilliant manner