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拍品專文
Christ appearing to His Disciples is one of over three hundred sheets by Domenico depicting scenes from the New Testament. They are thought to have been made in the late 1780s when the artist largely abandoned painting. The New Testament series is one of three graphic narrative cycles by the artist. The other two are stories based on the theater character, Punchinello and Scenes from everday life, which show leisure activities of the contemporary aristocratic class. It was in the realm of works on paper - in his drawings as well as his prints - that Tiepolo achieved his greatest successes, and tackled complex literary and visual ideas. The three narrative cycles were conceived as independent works of art, and were not preparatory for works in other media.
In the course of the hundreds of drawings Domenico made after New Testament subjects, there are many well-known episodes, but also more obscure scenes, as well as some ambiguous compositions that can be read different ways. The present drawing is such a case. Tiepolo has taken the moment of Christ's Resurrection from the Book of Matthew, and elaborated on it visually. In Matthew's Gospel, Christ appears to the apostles:
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted (Matthew 28:16-17)
Domenico's drawing includes many more figures, such as holy women and Jewish patriarchs and their families. The 2006 exhibition catalogue notes that Corinthians 15:6 describes Christ's Resurrection in the presence of five hundred people as a possible additional source for the composition (op. cit., p. 500). Whether his intention in adding figures was purely aesthetic, or a more explicit theological point, putting the Resurrection of Christ in the context of a broader Biblical history, is unknown, but the image is starkly powerful and energetic. Christ is at the center of the drawing, bathed in light, achieved by using the reserve of the paper to contrast with the brown wash of the surrounding figures.
Tiepolo tackled this subject again in another drawing, now lost (ibid., pp. 502-03, no. 208) where Jesus appears coming up a hillside. While he is surrounded by figures, there are fewer in that version of the scene.
In the course of the hundreds of drawings Domenico made after New Testament subjects, there are many well-known episodes, but also more obscure scenes, as well as some ambiguous compositions that can be read different ways. The present drawing is such a case. Tiepolo has taken the moment of Christ's Resurrection from the Book of Matthew, and elaborated on it visually. In Matthew's Gospel, Christ appears to the apostles:
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted (Matthew 28:16-17)
Domenico's drawing includes many more figures, such as holy women and Jewish patriarchs and their families. The 2006 exhibition catalogue notes that Corinthians 15:6 describes Christ's Resurrection in the presence of five hundred people as a possible additional source for the composition (op. cit., p. 500). Whether his intention in adding figures was purely aesthetic, or a more explicit theological point, putting the Resurrection of Christ in the context of a broader Biblical history, is unknown, but the image is starkly powerful and energetic. Christ is at the center of the drawing, bathed in light, achieved by using the reserve of the paper to contrast with the brown wash of the surrounding figures.
Tiepolo tackled this subject again in another drawing, now lost (ibid., pp. 502-03, no. 208) where Jesus appears coming up a hillside. While he is surrounded by figures, there are fewer in that version of the scene.