NARRATOR:
During the 18th century, visitors to the Venetian palace of the Dolfin family could look up and see this spectacular vision above them. It’s by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, master illusionistic ceiling paintings, made to be seen from below. His airborne figures float among swirling clouds, their limbs expertly foreshortened to create a perfect illusion. Tiepolo’s mythical and allegorical figures were ideally suited to his aristocratic patrons who commissioned such subjects to mirror their own illustrious qualities. His airy, asymmetrical compositions, full of drama, light, motion, and luscious color epitomize the sensibilities of the Rococo era.
Here, two beauties look down with lofty indifference. The one with the golden cloak personifies Nobility. Her companion, Virtue, has a golden sun emblazoned on her breast. Supported by winged children known as putti, they triumph over Ignorance—the darkened figure tumbling from the sky. One frowning putto gives her an angry shove, and bats flutter near her trailing scarf, an allusion to the blindness of ignorance. Her greed and love of earthly goods are indicated by the coins that slip from her grasp. Ironically enough, the Dolfin Palace is now a branch of the Bank of Italy.
Tiepolo’s ability to transform space into a glorious vision of regal grandeur, his masterful technique and his congenial personality brought him powerful clients from all over the world. The Swedish ambassador to Venice wrote home, recommending the artist to his king:
SWEDISH AMBASSADOR (ACTOR):
“He is full of wit and zest, easy to deal with, bubbling over with ideas; he has a gift for brilliant color, and works at a prodigious speed; he paints a picture in less time than it takes another artist to mix his colors.”
Allegory of Virtue and Nobility
c. 1747-48
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696-1770)
On View
In this monumental painting, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo depicts the triumph of Virtue and Nobility over the vice of Ignorance, all three personified by female figures. Nobility, wrapped in saffron- and rose-colored fabric, and winged Virtue, holding a crown of laurels, look down with disdain at the tumbling figure of Ignorance, who is cast into shadows by a furious cherub. To the left, Fame blows a trumpet to announce the victory. For the elite viewers for whom the work was created, intellectual interest in the allegorical subject matter was matched with delight at impressive illusionistic effect—one of Tiepolo’s characteristic talents. In its original setting, fixed to the ceiling of a grand room in the Palazzo Dolfin-Manin in Venice, the painting would have altered the perception of space, seemingly puncturing the architecture of the palace to grant access to a mythological realm.
Details
- Artist Name: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696-1770)
- Title: Allegory of Virtue and Nobility
- Date: c. 1747-48
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 126 x 154 1/2 in. (320 x 392.4 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1972.26.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
Palazzo Dolfin-Manin, Venice, still in 1799.
Edward Cheney (d. 1884), Badger Hall, Shropshire, London and Venice, by descent to;
Alfred Capel-Cure, Badger Hall, Shropshire, by descent to;
Francis Capel-Cure, Badger Hall, Shropshire in 1894, sold 1932.
Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi, Florence, by 1935, by descent to;
Heirs of the Contini-Bonacossi Estate, Florence, sold 1972, through;
[E.V. Thaw and Co., Inc., New York, to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Edward Cheney (d. 1884), Badger Hall, Shropshire, London and Venice, by descent to;
Alfred Capel-Cure, Badger Hall, Shropshire, by descent to;
Francis Capel-Cure, Badger Hall, Shropshire in 1894, sold 1932.
Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi, Florence, by 1935, by descent to;
Heirs of the Contini-Bonacossi Estate, Florence, sold 1972, through;
[E.V. Thaw and Co., Inc., New York, to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
[on loan]
- Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts, 1974 to
Reinstallation of Galleries: Art History of the 17th and 18th Century Gains Fresh Dimension
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-09-02 to 1995-08-13
- McCorquodale, Charles, The Connoisseur, p. 211
- Berenson, Bernard, The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance, p. 132/p. 126
- Knox, George, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, fig. 15 pp. 65-72, 78
- Pedrocco, Filippo, Giambattista Tiepolo 1696-1770, p. 156
- Modern, Heinrich, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, eine Studie, 1902, p. 13
- Sack, Eduard, Giambattista und Domenico Tiepolo: Ihr Leben und ihre Werke, 1910, no. 559 p. 228
- Molmenti, Pompeo, Tiepolo: La vie et l'oeuvre du peintre, 1911, n. 1 p. 187
- Vigni, Giorgio, Tiepolo, 1951, color pl. VI
- Morassi, Antonio, A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings of G. B. Tiepolo, 1962, fig. 351
- Palluchini, Anna, L'opera completa di Giambattista Tiepolo, 1968, no. 186, color pl. XXXII
- Mostra del Tiepolo dipinti, 1971, fig. 52
- University: A Princeton Quarterly, 1974,
- Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America, 1979, p. 225
- Barbin, M.; A. Delneri, A. Momo, M. Murraro and Dario Succi, I Tiepolo: virtuososmi e ironia, 1988, under nos. 32, 33 pp. 128-129
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 104, 105, cover
- Succi, Dario, Giambattista Tiepolo: Uno straordinario capolavoro commissionato nel 1748 per il Palazzo Dolfin Manin a Rialto, 1992, fig. 3 p. 13
- Gemin, Massimo; and Filippo Pedrocco, Giambattista Tiepolo: I dipinti. Opera completa, 1993, no. 381 pp. 104, 130-131
- Alpers, Svetlana; and Michael Baxandall, Tiepolo and the Pictorial Intelligence, 1994, fig. 47 pp. 32-35
- Barcham, W. L., Giambattista Tiepolo 1696-1770, 1996, fig. 52 pp. 134-147
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 829 p. 342
- Knox, George, et al., La Serenissima: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Art, 2011, Fig. 30 p. 29
- Renato Miracco, Italian Treasures in the U.S. An Itinerary of Art, 2014, p. #42
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