Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770)

Zephyrus and Flora

Venice, about 1750

Pen, brown wash and black chalk on paper

23.9 x 33 cm

Tiepelo made this drawing as a study for the principal figures in the ceiling fresco he painted for the Room of Mirrors in the Palazzo Labia in Venice.

He also produced a small oil sketch of the complete composition. Such delicate figure studies played an important part in the production of Tiepolo’s monumental frescos with their complex compositions. According to ancient myth, Zephyr was one of the four winds and Flora was the goddess of flowers. Their union signified the arrival of spring and the renewal of life and it was a suitable subject to commemorate a wedding.

Purchased in 1936 (No. 36.9)

WORKS ON PAPER

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