These two oval paintings were once installed above doorways in the palace of the prolific art collector Count Luigi Avogadro in Brescia, Italy. An unusual mix of objects, including musical instruments, ewers and lush fabric, surrounds satyrs and cherubs reclining in a rural landscape. Rather than telling stories, the paintings are vibrant, aesthetically pleasing scenes that were meant to amuse and intrigue. When viewed up close, specific details melt into thick, fluid brushstrokes, indicating that the images were designed to be seen from a distance. Like many of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s works, these overdoor decorations were experienced in the context of an elaborate architectural space, which contributed to an all-encompassing sense of opulence.
Details
- Artist Name: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696-1770)
- Title: Female Satyr with Tambourine
- Date: c. 1730
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 23-1/2 x 37-1/2 in. (59.7 x 95.3 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1980.06.2.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
Paola Avogadro Fenaroli (d. 1800), Brescia, by inheritance to;
Bartolomeo Fenaroli, Brescia, by inheritance to;
Girolamo Fenaroli, Brescia (1827-1880, when the collection was dispersed).
Pierre and Marie-Marguerite Lebaudy (née Marie-Marguerite Luzarche d’Azay, 1871-1962) possibly as early as 1900, (sale, Paris, Palais Galliera, 15 June 1962, lot 4, ill., as Faunesse, 59.5 x 96 cm., and lot 5, as Faunesse et amours, 59 x 97 cm., to);
[Galerie Cailleux, Paris, sold 26 February 1980 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
Venise au dix-huitième siècle: Peintures, dessins et gravures des collections françaises
- Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, 1971-09-21 to 1971-11-29
Giambattista Tiepolo 1696-1700, Domenico Tiepolo 1727-1804, Lorenzo Tiepolo 1736-1776: Peintures, dessins, pastels
- Paris, Galerie Cailleux, 1974-06-04 to 1974-07-12
Giambattista Tiepolo, 1696-1770
- Venice, Ca' Rezzonico, Museo del Settecento Veneziano, 1996-09-05 to 1996-12-09
- New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997-01-24 to 1997-04-27
- Watson, Forbes, Apollo, figs. 2, 5 p. 248
- Knox, George, The Burlington Magazine, figs. 64, 65 pp. 585-586
- Knox, George, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, n. 10, figs. 12, 13
- Chizzola, Luigi, Le pitture e sculture di Brescia che sono esposte al pubblico con un' appendice di alcune private gallerie, 1760, p. 182
- Morassi, Antonio, A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings of G. B. Tiepolo, 1962, p. 7
- Rizzi, A., Le Acqueforti dei Tiepolo, 1970, no. 25, pl. 25
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 103
- Gemin, Massimo; and Filippo Pedrocco, Giambattista Tiepolo: I dipinti. Opera completa, 1993, nos. 293, 294 pp. 104, 360
- Barcham, W. L., Giambattista Tiepolo 1696-1770, 1996, no. 17f pp. 134-147
- Christiansen, Keith, Quadri & Sculture, 1999, no. 10 pp. 54-55
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1645b p. 430
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