George Knox, who attributed this drawing to Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, suggested that it is a study for the eagle that appears hovering in the sky in a ceiling fresco of 1743 in the Palazzo Pisani Moretta a San Polo, Venice. The correspondence is indeed fairly close. Although Jacob Bean thought that the possibility that the drawing is a copy – perhaps made by the artist's son Domenico, the softness and broadness of the modelling strokes in charcoal, and the overall volumetric definition of form (in terms of large planes of highlight and shadow) seem typical of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Knox recorded four further drawings that he associated with the ceiling of the Palazzo Pisani Moretta (Knox 1980, vol. I, D.130, M.3, M.279, M.702, the latter repr. vol. II, pl. 33, see here ‘References’ for full bibliography).
Hans Tietze (1947, p. 180, no. 90) relates the Museum’s drawing to the eagle on the top of the flag-staff in the fresco "The Marriage of Frederick Barbarossa and Beatrice of Burgundy" in the Residence in Würzburg. Another drawing from the same source is "Head of a Boy with Turban" at the Art Institute of Chicago (Tietze 1947, p. 180). In 1996, Bernard Aikema reaffirmed that Giovanni Battista Tiepolo used a slight variation of the eagle seen in this drawing in the fresco "The Marriage of Frederick Barbarossa and Beatrice of Burgundy" in the Residence in Würzburg.
With regard to the provcenance, the accession card in the Museum’s Department of Drawings and Prints further notes that this drawing evidently comes from the same sketchbook as the ‘Study of Dogs’, after Veronese (Metropolitan Museum of Art inv. 37.165.53) which may be dated circa 1743. The accession card notes that Eisenmann bought the drawing from the sale on March 27, 1882, at Gutekunst in Stuttgart, but there are no further informations given. The same accession card notes that de Vries, Amsterdam, owned the drawing, but there are no further informations given. (F.R.)
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Inscription: Annotated in pen and brown ink on verso, 24 xrs No 2938; above, in graphite, 401 (Bossi-Beyerlen "code number"; see Knox, 1980, I, pp. 200-207). Annotated in graphite on verso of mat, Exposition Venice 1929/99; annotated in graphite on recto of mat, Vorlage für den Adler aus einer Standartenstange der "Vermählung Barbarossa" in Würzburg/99.
Marking: The watermark (letters RO SA) is only partly legible, and it may be similar in type to no. 36 in Jacob Bean and Felice Stampfle, Drawings from New York Collections, vol. III, The 18th Century in Italy, New York, 1971.
Giovanni Domenico Bossi; Maria Theresa Karoline Bossi; Karl Christian Friedrich Beyerlen; H. G. Gutekunst, Stuttgart (German), sale, March 27-28, 1882, uncertain lot no.; Eisemann; Dr. Hans Wendland; de Vries; Guillaume de Gontaut-Biron, marquis de Biron; Guillaume de Gontaut-Biron, marquis de Biron
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Tiepolo and his Contemporaries," March 14–April 24, 1938.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings from New York Collections: Eighteenth Century in Italy," January 30–March 21, 1971.
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham (AL). "The Tiepolos: Painters to Princes and Prelates," January 8, 1978–February 19, 1978.
Michele & Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield Museums. "The Tiepolos: Painters to Princes and Prelates," March 19, 1978–May 7, 1978.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "18th Century Italian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 18–December 9, 1990.
Harvard University Art Museums. "Tiepolo and His Circle: Drawings in American Collections," October 12, 1996–December 15, 1996.
Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard Art Museums. "Italian Drawings at the Authur M. Sackler Museum," October 12, 1996–December 15, 1996.
Morgan Library & Museum, New York. "Tiepolo and His Circle: Drawings in American Collections," January 17, 1997–April 13, 1997.
Detlev Baron von Hadeln The Drawings of G. B. Tiepolo. 2 vols., Paris, 1928, cat. no. vol. 1, fig. no. vol. 2, pl. 136, p. 24, ill.
Dr. Hans Wendland, Lucino di Lugano Exposizione del settecento italiano; catalogo generale, Venice. Venice, 1929, cat. no. 1-19, p. 29.
Harry B. Wehle Tiepolo and His Contemporaries. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1938, cat. no. 47, fig. no. 47, ill.
Walter Mehring European Drawings from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Portfolio of Collotype Reproductions [Vol. 1: Italian Drawings; Vol. 2: Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and British drawings; Vol. 3: "New Series": Italian, Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and British drawings]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 3 vols., New York, 1942–44, cat. no. 46 (vol.1), fig. no. 46, ill.
Hans Tietze European Master Drawings in the United States. J. J. Augustin, New York, 1947, cat. no. 90, fig. no. 90, ill.
Max H. von Freeden, Carl Lamb Das Meisterwerk des Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: Die Fresken der Würzburger Residenz. Munich, 1956, cat. no. 45, fig. no. pl. 45, p. 105, ill.
George Knox, Adelheid M. Gealt "The Paintings by G. P. Tiepolo." in Burlington Magazine. vol. 105, London, 1963, fig. no. 56, p. 328, ill.
George Knox, Adelheid M. Gealt Tiepolo. A Bicentenary Exhibition 1770-1970. Drawings, Mainly From American Collections, by Giambattista Tiepolo and the Members of His Circle. Exh. cat., March 14 - May 3, 1970. Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1970, cat. no. 31, fig. no. 31, ill.
George Knox, Christel Thiem Tiepolo. Zeichnungen von Giambattista, Domenico und Lorenzo Tiepolo aus der Graphischen Sammlung der Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, aus württembergischem Privatbesitz und dem Martin von Wagner Museum der Universität Würzberg Exh. cat., Graphische Sammlung, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart. Graphische Sammlung, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, 1970, cat. no. 181, p. 170.
Antonio Morassi "Sui disegni del Tiepolo nelle recenti mostre di Cambridge Mass. e di Stoccarda" Arte Veneta. vol. 24, Venice, 1970, fig. no. 437, p. 298, ill.
Jacob Bean, Felice Stampfle Drawings from New York Collections, vol. III: Eighteenth Century Italian Drawings. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 1971, p. 67, no. 154, ill.
James Byam Shaw "The Biron Collection of Venetian Eighteenth-Century Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Metropolitan Museum Journal. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 3, New York, 1971, p. 246.
George Knox, Adelheid M. Gealt "Italian Drawings in New York" The Burlington Magazine. vol. 113, no. 818, London, May 1971, cat. no. vol. 118, p. 291.
E. F. Weeks, Barry Hannegan The Tiepolos: Painters to Princes and Prelates Exh. cat., Birmingham, Birmingham Museum of Art; Springfield, MA, Museum of Fine Arts. Birmingham, Alabama, 1978, cat. no. 51, fig. no. p. 88, ill.
George Knox, Adelheid M. Gealt Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo. A Study and Catalogue Raisonné of Chalk Drawings. 2 vols., Oxford, 1980, cat. no. vol. 1, 2, fig. no. pl. 32, pp. 12, 281, ill.
Jacob Bean, William M. Griswold 18th Century Italian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990, cat. no. 239, fig. no. 239, pp. 244-46, ill.
Bernard Aikema Tiepolo and His Circle. Drawings In American Collections. Exh. cat., Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Art Museums; New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library. Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 1996, cat. no. 99, pp. 272-73, ill.
Bernard Aikema, Margaret Tuijn Tiepolo in Holland. Works by Giambattista Tiepolo and his circle in Dutch collections Exh. cat., Rotterdam. Rotterdam, 1996, fig. no. 1, p. 48, ill.
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