Time revealing Truth

Details

GIOVANNI BATTISTA TIEPOLO (1696-1770)
Time revealing Truth
black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash on paper
39 x 26,3 cm. (15 3⁄8 x 10 3⁄8 in.)

Provenance

Marqués de Valverde de la Sierra, Madrid.
Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, 17th Marqués of Cerralbo (1845-1922), Madrid.
Maud Alice Cunard, Lady Cunard (1872-1948), London.
P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London (Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, Autumn 1934, no. 76 (ill.)).
Sir Thomas Dalmahoy Barlow (1883-1964), London.
Dr Francis Springell (1898-1974) and Mrs Springell, Portinscale, Cumberland; Sotheby's, London, 30 June 1986, lot 80.
Sotheby's, New York, 8 January 1991, lot 109.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.

Exhibited

Madrid, Exposicion de Dibujos 1750 a 1860, 1922, no. 529 (ill.).
London, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Loan Exhibition of Drawings by Old Masters from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Francis Springell, 1959, no. 31 (ill.).
Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, Old Master Drawings from the Collection of Dr and Mrs Francis Springell, 1965, no. 61.
Venice, Fondazione Cini, Disegni veneti di collezioni inglesi, 1980, no. 79 (ill.).
Greenwich, National Maritime Museum, The Story of Time, 1999, no. 210 (ill.).
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Aus der Werkstatt des Künstlers - Druckgraphik und vorbereitende Zeichnungen der Sammlung Hegewisch, 1999, pp. 16-17 (ill.) & pp. 86-87.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Hélène Rihal Head of Department

hrihal@christies.com +33 (0)1 40 76 86 13

Lot Essay

This large drawing is a first study, with several variations, for an impressive painting of the same subject commissioned by a Veronese patron, now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (inv. no. 61.1200). The canvas has been dated to 1758 (M. Gemin & F. Pedrocco, Giambattista Tiepolo - I dipinti - Opera completa, Venice, 1993, no. 471(ill.)).

The complex iconography is an example for Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s remarkable ability to depict abstract concepts through allegories and personifications. Here the artist represents Time bringing Truth out of darkness, illustrating the concept, first elaborated in ancient Greek philosophy, that nothing can be concealed forever. Time is depicted as an old winged man with a scythe nearby, the symbol of death. Truth is embodied by a beautiful young woman, who is partially covered by a transparent veil. Her emblem, the shining sun, is seen next to her. Cupid, with his quiver of arrows, represents earthly love rendered powerless by Time.

Tiepolo returned to the subject of Time and Truth repeatedly in drawings, paintings and fresco decorations throughout his career.

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