Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

The Metropolitan Museum of Art


    • Allegory of the Planets and Continents, sketch, 1752
    Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venetian, 1696–1770)
    Oil on canvas

    73 x 54 7/8 in. (185.4 x 139.4 cm)
    Inscribed (sides): EVROPA / AFRICÆ / AMERICA / ASIA
    Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1977 (1977.1.3)

    This picture, Tiepolo's largest and most dazzling oil sketch, shows Apollo about to embark on his daily course across the sky. Deities around the sun god symbolize the planets, and allegorical figures on the cornice represent the four continents.

    Tiepolo presented this preliminary sketch to Carl Philipp von Greiffenklau, the prince-bishop of Würzburg, on April 20, 1752, as his proposal for the decoration of the vast staircase ceiling of the Residenz, often considered the artist's greatest achievement. The figures in grisaille at the corners were executed on the ceiling in stucco by the decorator-sculptor Antonio Bossi.

    Related


    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • 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
    • "Director's Note" PDF
  • Wolk-Simon, Linda. "Domenico Tiepolo: Drawings, Prints, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 54, no. 3 (Winter, 1996–97).
    JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs
    • "Director's Note" PDF
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  • Allegory of the Planets and Continents, sketch, 1752
    Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venetian, 1696–1770)
    Oil on canvas

    73 x 54 7/8 in. (185.4 x 139.4 cm)
    Inscribed (sides): EVROPA / AFRICÆ / AMERICA / ASIA
    Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1977 (1977.1.3)