Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

The Metropolitan Museum of Art


    • The Investiture of Bishop Harold as Duke of Franconia, sketch, ca. 1751–52
    Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venetian, 1696–1770)
    Oil on canvas

    28 1/4 x 20 1/4 in. (71.8 x 51.4 cm)
    Purchase, 1871 (71.121)

    The picture shows Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa investing Harold of Hochheim, bishop of Würzburg, with the dukedom of Franconia. The event occurred in 1168, but Tiepolo has envisaged it as a Baroque ceremony. The picture is a preparatory study for one of the frescoes in the vault of the Kaisersaal (dining room) of the Residenz (the Prince-Bishop's Palace) in Würzburg. The cycle was executed in 1751–52. The final composition shows a number of major changes and is contained in a gilt stucco surround with painted plaster curtains.

    Related


    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • Baetjer, Katharine. "Buying Pictures for New York: The Founding Purchase of 1871." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 39 (2004).
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Zorzi, Rosella Mamoli. "Tiepolo, Henry James, and Edith Wharton," Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 33 (1998).
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Christiansen, Keith. "The Ca'Dolfin Tiepolos." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 4 (Spring, 1998).
    JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs
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  • The Investiture of Bishop Harold as Duke of Franconia, sketch, ca. 1751–52
    Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venetian, 1696–1770)
    Oil on canvas

    28 1/4 x 20 1/4 in. (71.8 x 51.4 cm)
    Purchase, 1871 (71.121)