The illustrated blog couldn't let the birthday of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (born on this day in 1696) pass unmarked. The picture above, Time Uncovering Truth, achieved a certain belated notoriety when Silvio Berlusconi used a reproduction of it as the backdrop for a press conference - but not before having the exposed breast digitally covered with a wisp of gauze, for decency's sake. How strange...
Tiepolo, despite having been the last Venetian artist to achieve pan-European fame, was already passing out of fashion by the end of his career, and his reputation plummeted in the 19th century. Henry James described him as 'that tardy fruit of the Venetian efflorescence' and saw nothing to admire in him. Ruskin gave him but a couple of mentions in a late work, St Mark's Rest - this despite the fact that you can barely turn a corner in Venice without coming across something of Tiepolo's. Much later, in my own formative years, he was still regarded with suspicion - too frivolous to be taken seriously. It was only when I first went to Venice that I began to see the point of Tiepolo - to admire his dash, his sprezzatura, the luminosity of his colour, the sheer sensual enjoyment he offers (especially to someone like me who is particularly susceptible to blue - Tiepolo's blues are incomparable). His work doesn't reproduce well - as much of it covers entire ceilings, that is hardly surprising - but in situ it can be glorious, heart-lifting stuff. It is certainly one of the major joys of Venice. Happy birthday, tardy fruit!
Ah yes....A painter's painter indeed full of dash and fire underpinned with fine draughtsmanship but for all the technical wizardry, a sensitivity and humanity lacking in many painters on the grand scale. Echos of Rubens.
ReplyDeleteYes David - without the heaviness Rubens was prone to. Not much blue sky in Rubens...
ReplyDeleteIndeed; though it would have been interesting to see what the earlier work from Italy was like, almost all of which is lost. The political upheavals in northen Europe - the Netherlands in particular - in which Rubens was to some extent embroiled combined with the effect of the climate and northern sensibility are very likely to have been the determining factors in the darkening of his palette.
ReplyDeleteQuite so David. Do you know Piazzetta? Rather like Tiepolo done with a sombre palette - fascinating...
ReplyDeleteYes, though sadly only in reproduction. They were of course (he and Tiepolo) hugely influenced by each other.
ReplyDeleteline from a poem by a wizard friend, about Odin - i can't remember the line breaks, it may be 2 lines or just one:
ReplyDelete"what is blue if not god's colour"
In Finnish 'blue' and 'blueness' are 'sini', which is also a girl's name.