Allegory of the Planets and Continents | Giovanni Battista Tiepolo | All | European Paintings | Collection Database | Works of Art

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscribed (sides): EVROPA / AFRICÆ / AMERICA / ASIA

Gallery LabelThis 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.

NotesThe fresco above the staircase of the Würzburg Residenz, for which this painting is a study, was commissioned by Carl Philipp von Greiffenklau, prince-bishop, 1749–54. Tiepolo turned his attention to the design of the ceiling during the winter of 1751–52 and according to a document preserved in the Staatsarchiv at Würzburg (see Ref. Freeden and Lamb 1956), he presented a study for it to the prince-bishop on April 20, 1752. Most scholars believe our painting to be identical with this study. Our sketch does not show the prince-bishop or his retinue, whereas in the fresco, Greiffenklau's portrait is conspicuously displayed in a medallion held by Fame and other allegorical figures. In the final arrangement, Greiffenklau's contemporaries, including Tiepolo and his two sons, are portrayed in the allegorical group of Europe, and the groups of Europe and America have been reversed.

Provenancethe artist, Venice (1752–d. 1770); his son, Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, Venice (1770–d. 1804); Antonio Canova, Venice (1804–22; inv., no. 8); Samuel Ware, Hendon Hall, London (by 1850–60; ms. cat., 1850, no. 210); Charles Nathaniel Cumberlege-Ware, Hendon Hall (1860–about 1870); C. F. Hancock, Hendon Hall (by 1890); Hendon Hall Hotel (by 1923–54); [art market, London, 1954–56]; [Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, and Fritz and Peter Nathan, Zurich, 1956; sold to Wrightsman]; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, New York (1956–77; cat., 1973, no. 25)

Exhibition History

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 6–September 4, 1960, no. 118.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Oil Sketches by 18th Century Italian Artists from New York Collections," January 30–March 21, 1971, no. 27.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Giambattista Tiepolo, 1696–1770," January 24–April 27, 1997, no. 49.

References

Edward T. Evans. The History and Topography of the Parish of Hendon, Middlesex. London, 1890, pp. 239–40.

Illustrated London News (April 10, 1954), p. 559, ill.

"Tiepolo Discovery–Painting on Hotel Ceiling." Times (March 31, 1954), p. 5.

Antonio Morassi. "Some 'modelli' and other Unpublished Works by Tiepolo." Burlington Magazine 97 (January 1955), p. 4 n. 1.

Antonio Morassi. G. B. Tiepolo: His Life and Work. London, 1955, p. 25, fig. 35.

F. J. B. W[atson]. "Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: A Masterpiece and a Book." Connoisseur 136 (November 1955), p. 215.

Max H. Von Freeden and Carl Lamb. Das Meisterwerk des Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: Die Fresken der Würzburger Residenz. Munich, 1956, pp. 29, 53–61, 77, 80, 84, 87–88, 91, 93, 102, pls. 35–40 (whole and details).

Antonio Morassi. Letter. April 24, 1956.

Cyril Connolly. "Style Rococo." Art News Annual 26 (1957), pp. 124–25, ill. (color).

George Knox. "Tiepolo: Die Fresken der Würzburger Residenz." Burlington Magazine 99 (April 1957), p. 129.

Fritz Neugass. "Sommerlicher Ausklang in New York." Weltkunst 30 (August 15, 1960), p. 6.

[J. B. Gold]. Letter to Mrs. Wrightsman. November 12, 1961.

Antonio Morassi. A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings of G. B. Tiepolo. London, 1962, pp. 37, 68.

"Review of J. Byam Shaw's "Drawings of Domenico Tiepolo"." Times Literary Supplement (August 31, 1962), p. 652.

Gerhard Bott. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: Das Fresko im Treppenhaus der Würzburger Residenz. Stuttgart, 1963, pp. 8–10, figs. 12–13.

Francis Watson. "G. B. Tiepolo: Pioneer of Modernism." Apollo 77 (March 1963), pp. 247–48.

Gerhard Bott. "Zur Ikonographie des Treppenfreskos von Giovanni Battista Tiepolo in der Würzburger Residenz." Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums (1965), pp. 140–64, fig. 2.

Anna Pallucchini in L'opera completa di Giambattista Tiepolo. Milan, 1968, pp. 116–17, no. 199, fig. 199 d-h.

Claus Virch. "Dreams of Heaven and Earth: Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo in the Wrightsman Collection." Apollo 90 (September 1969), pp. 173–74, 176–78, fig. 3.

Francis Watson. Letter to Fahy. April 15, 1970.

Oil Sketches by 18th Century Italian Artists from New York Collections. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [New York], 1971, p. 8, no. 27.

Mercedes Precerutti-Garberi. Giambattista Tiepolo: gli affreschi. Turin, 1971, p. 87.

Aldo Rizzi. "Dipinti." Mostra del Tiepolo. Exh. cat., Villa Manin di Passariano. [1], [Milan], [1971], p. 108, fig. 58.

Erika Simon. "Sol, Virtus und Veritas im Würzburger Treppenhausfresko des Giovanni Battista Tiepolo." Pantheon 29 (November–December 1971), pp. 484–86, 494, fig. 2.

Dr. Fritz Nathan und Dr. Peter Nathan, 1922–1972. Zürich, 1972, pl. 19.

Everett Fahy in "Paintings, Drawings." The Wrightsman Collection. 5, [New York], 1973, pp. 232–47, no. 25, ill. (the whole [color] and details).

Mark Ashton. "Allegory, Fact, and Meaning in Giambattista Tiepolo's Four Continents in Würzburg." Art Bulletin 60 (March 1978), p. 121, fig. 16.

Frank Büttner. "Die Sonne Frankens: Ikonographie des Freskos im Treppenhaus der Würzburger Residenz." Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst 30 (1979), pp. 159–86, figs. 3–5 (whole and details).

Dean Walker in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1975–1979. New York, 1979, p. 53, ill.

Frank Büttner. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: Die Fresken in der Residenz zu Würzburg. Würzburg, 1980, p. 94.

Howard Hibbard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1980, pp. 352, 358, fig. 646 (color).

George Knox. Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo: A Study and Catalogue Raisonné of the Chalk Drawings. 1, Oxford, 1980, vol. 1, p. 44.

Michael Levey. Giambattista Tiepolo: His Life and Art. New Haven, 1986, pp. 191, 194–95, pl. 176.

Massimo Gemin and Filippo Pedrocco. Giambattista Tiepolo: i dipinti, opera completa. Venice, 1993, pp. 426–27, no. 415a, ill.

Svetlana Alpers and Michael Baxandall. Tiepolo and the Pictorial Intelligence. New Haven, 1994, pp. 74, 129–30, 135, 142, colorpls. 144, 151a, b, c (whole and details).

Rodolfo Pallucchini. La pittura nel Veneto: il Settecento. 1, Milan, 1995, p. 437.

Giuseppe Pavanello. Sulla collezione di Antonio Canova: i cassoni degli argonauti di "Ercole da Ferrara". Padua, 1995, p. 279 n. 22, p. 280.

Keith Christiansen et al. in Giambattista Tiepolo, 1696–1770. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, pp. 8, 32, 110, 278, 286, 302–4, 306–11, 325, no. 49, ill. (the whole and four details in color) [Italian ed., Milan, 1996].

Peter O. Krückmann in Der Himmel auf Erden: Tiepolo in Würzburg. Exh. cat., Residenz, Würzburg. Munich, 1996, vol. 1, pp. 98–99, ill. (color); vol. 2, p. 132.

Peter O. Krückmann. Heaven on Earth: Tiepolo, Masterpieces of the Würzburg Years. Munich, 1996, pp. 91–95, fig. 87 (color).

Gianfranco Malafarina. "The Fresco on the Ceremonial Staircase." FMR no. 84 (February 1997), p. 50.

Keith Christiansen. "The Ca' Dolfin Tiepolos." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 55 (Spring 1998), p. 15, fig. 11 (color).

Rosella Mamoli Zorzi. "Tiepolo, Henry James, and Edith Wharton." Metropolitan Museum Journal 33 (1998), p. 226, ill.

Everett Fahy in The Wrightsman Pictures. New York, 2005, pp. 93–96, no. 27, ill. (color).

Keith Christiansen in Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977–2008. New York, 2009, p. 36.

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