
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770) was the last great painter of the Italian Rococo and the finest fresco artist of his century. Born in Venice, he trained under Gregorio Lazzarini and absorbed the legacy of Tintoretto and Veronese. By age twenty he was already working on church ceiling commissions. His palette lightened over time, and his compositions grew increasingly airy and theatrical, with figures floating in luminous skies surrounded by billowing clouds and classical architecture.
Tiepolo's fame spread across Europe. From 1750 to 1753, he worked for Prince-Bishop Carl Philipp von Greiffenklau at the Würzburg Residence in Germany, painting the largest fresco in the world over the grand staircase designed by Balthasar Neumann. The ceiling shows Apollo surrounded by allegorical figures representing the four continents. In 1761, Spain's King Charles III summoned him to Madrid to decorate the Royal Palace. There he faced opposition from the rising Neoclassicist Anton Raphael Mengs, whose austere style was overtaking the Rococo. Tiepolo died in Madrid in 1770. His sons Domenico and Lorenzo assisted him throughout his career. A contemporary called him "the most famous of the virtuosi," and Michael Levey later described him as "the greatest decorative painter of eighteenth-century Europe." His easel paintings and oil sketches can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery in London, and the Museo del Prado.
6 paintings catalogued with museum locations

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
San Stae, Venice, Venice

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Private Collection, Unknown

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1744
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
6 museums display Tiepolo's works. Click any museum to see visiting info and the specific works they hold.

Unknown, Unknown
1 work on display

St. Petersburg, Russia
1 work on display

Madrid, Spain
1 work on display

Hartford, United States
1 work on display

Melbourne, Australia
1 work on display

Venice, Italy
1 work on display
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