Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Hello, welcome to CREARTE. Today is the update day and today we are going to stay with the life and work of Tiepolo. Welcome! Hello, welcome to CREARTE. My name is Sara. Today is the update day of our channel and today we are going to stay with the life and work of the Italian rococó master Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. This video is resulted in our survey to the members of the CREARTE club. You already know, to become a member of the CREARTE club, just click on the button that is here below all our videos, which says join, it is next to the subscribe button. You click on join and you will have access to a video where I explain the various levels of the CREARTE club. And today we are going to talk about this man. This is Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, one of the greatest names of the Italian rococó. And to talk about Tiepolo, we have to first talk about his hometown, Venice. So in the 18th century, the port of Venice was more decadent. However, the city was still beautiful, full of large palaces around its canals and full of nobles. It was also full of tourists, because Venice entered the routes of the great aristocrats of Europe. It was in a good mood to make a trip after having classes. Therefore, to reform, a young man always had to make a visit to several places in Europe. And Venice was a striking point. So, despite its port in I don't know what it was before, a lot of people kept coming to Venice, many tourists, many rich tourists, who later wanted to take a memory of the beautiful times they had lived in the city. And they did it by buying art, buying landscapes of that wonderful view that was Venice. Venice is still full of tourists today, so this has been around for a long time. And it is in this Venice, full of people, that the young Tiepolo was born. Tiepolo was born in the year 1696. He was born in the womb of a very well-off family. His father was a successful merchant. Together, this merchant and his wife had five children. Tiepolo was one more. So, his mother thought they should walk all their children to have a good education. As Tiepolo showed great talent for art, she decided to take him to an atelier of a famous decorative painter from Venice. This painter, Gregorio Lazzarini. However, Tiepolo did not have this vein for decorative as his teacher. He was more melancholic, he liked darker themes and even in the use of color, he liked darker tones, unlike that bright Rococo that was fashion. Let's see the work. It is one of Tiepolo's first works, the work for which he became known in the city of Venice. And here it is, the Sacrifice of Isaac, a work made in 1716, his last year as a student. Here we have a strong contrast of light and shadow. It is a very dramatic work. Tiepolo performs his first public work. It was made for the Church of Santa Maria dell'Elipti, much better known as Ospedaletto. The work brought fame and money to Tiepolo. So, he joins the Association of Painters of Venice, this in 1717, and opens his school. Tiepolo's style, a more dramatic style than the normal of Rococo, a more melancholic style, makes a huge buzz in Venice. Throughout Tiepolo's life, he captivates patrons who end up accompanying him throughout his career. And during this phase of his career, Tiepolo experimented with various artistic styles. Let's see some of the works. For example, this one, the Crucifixion, painted between 1723 and 1724. Here we have the use of dark colors. With the success of these works, he ends up marrying a young woman, Cecilia, who is actually from a family of painters. She is the sister of another painter, which we already talked about here in the Italian Rococo video, Francesco Guardi. Together, Tiepolo and Cecilia will have nine children and form a happy family. Of course, Tiepolo's works follow each other. We are seeing some of the works that Tiepolo made for the galleries of the Academy of Venice between 1743 and 1744. Here we have several themes. In addition to religious themes, we also have themes related to literature, history, mythology and various allegories, as is the case here. Here we have Antea and Ebarcomas, who meet at Diana's party. We have Diana when she discovers Calixto's pregnancy. We have Diana and Actaeon. And we also have the Rapture of Europe. And with these wonderful works, Tiepolo was increasingly known in Venice and worked a lot. He was friendly and the patrons liked him very much. Tiepolo, in his youth, in his first phase of his career, is very comfortable in Venice. The work came knocking at his door. Unlike the vast majority of painters of Tiepolo's age, of his time, he did not feel a great need to leave Venice. You know that these great painters of Italian Rococo, of Venice, left the courts of Europe to paint everywhere. We have a video about this that I will leave here, the Carte Algurs, and I will also leave it linked in the description of this video. In fact, he received very well, he had an excellent large family, he was an extremely happy person, sometimes even criticized, so he was nothing like that dramatic painter, that painter who never has money, who is not appreciated, tortured. No, he was an extremely pleasant person, extremely nice and had a very calm life. And his talent continued to grow. We are seeing another example of Tiepolo's work, Glória de Santa Teresa, a work from 1726, which is in the Scalzi Church. And in this work we can see Tiepolo's talent evolve. Although he never left Venice like his colleagues, all the novelties in the world of art, the new techniques, the new style of the courts came to him. And he learned, he was self-taught in many things. He saw new techniques coming, his friend painters showed, the new nobles who arrived in the city every day brought other ideas, and Tiepolo absorbed everything. And we can see in this phase of his work that his style is evolving. Another example is this, the force of eloquence, it is on the roof of the Palazzo Santi Porto, today the Cipallotto. And at the age of 30, Tiepolo enters his most interesting phase of painting, his mature phase. And now, when we look at Tiepolo's works, we feel this evolution towards Recoco. I must say here that there are many records of Tiepolo's works, because he did detailed studies, studies of forms, of shadows, of perspective, and these records came to our days. After painting the mythological scenes in the Palazzo Archinto, he was hired to paint the Palazzo d'Ugnani. Here, the theme was removed from history. In the autumn of 1731, Tiepolo travels to Bergamo, where he works in the Capella Colleone, and here he paints the story of João Batista. The story of João Batista is extremely important, because here Tiepolo introduces something new in his art. For the first time in Tiepolo's work, a background with almost mystical landscape, very lyrical and very soft. He makes the suitcase again and goes to Venice. Here, Tiepolo decides that he is no longer going to travel, that the best thing is to paint the works in his workshop and then send them by boat, wherever they are, do you understand? So he starts painting great works in his workshop and sending them by boat to the various courts. But he says he no longer leaves Venice, at least that's what he thought at the time. He, in Venice, is declared a virtuoso of art, is received as a noble, as a hero, the greatest of all masters. One of the most interesting works of this time is this, the Adoration of Santa Trindade by Pope Clement, a work from 1735, which Tiepolo sent to the palace of Nymphenburg. And also another example is this work, the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, a work from 1739, sent to Disen, also in Bavaria. Between 1740 and 1750, in Venice, in his workshop with his family, helped by his two older sons, one of whom later becomes a great painter, also known as Tiepolo, he then begins to paint a set of very interesting works. Why? Because, once again, his style changes, modifies, improves, evolves. And it was exactly during this time, this phase of change, that Tiepolo conquered an important patron, this man, Count Algarotti. These were the most important patrons of the time and a very influential figure in society. Through these scenes, he meets the richest families in the city, the patrons, those nobles. And he then performs a work in which we can see this new change in his style, which is considered by many people, the masterpiece of Tiepolo. Let's see. This is the Banquet of Cleopatra, a work performed in 1744. Here we can see the lighter colors, the brightness that permeates the whole environment and the luxury of high society. And we are going to have a detailed analysis of this work, here in our Criarte. Let's continue. So, Tiepolo is rich. Tiepolo is famous. He says he doesn't leave Venice, but he does, why? Because he receives a message from the Bishops-Princes of Bavaria. And you already know where I'm going to go, because we already have a video about this palace, right? He is hired to paint the ceiling and walls of one of the most important palaces in Europe, the Palace of Würzburg. In 1750, Tiepolo travels again. He will paint the frescoes of Würzburg. And these are his best works and glorify his entire career. Especially his Recoco style. At the Kaisersaal, Tiepolo painted on the ceiling the Allegory of Marriage, his brightest work ever. On the walls of the same room, Tiepolo created frescoes with the narrative of the Middle Ages. But it was not that natural Middle Ages. It was a Middle Ages with a fairy tale air, very idealized, very lyrical, very clear, very beautiful. And also very luxurious. Above the central staircase of the palace, Tiepolo paints the four continents. This is a work that we analyzed in great detail in the video that I will leave linked in the description. And I will also leave some here on our screen, which is the video, the Palace of Würzburg. Here the theme are the four continents known at the time. Europe, Asia, Africa and America. As the painting of the palace is almost only frescoes, which is a technique that has to be done with some special conditions. One of them is the heat, so it could only be painted in the summer. Tiepolo saw himself at hand with a lot of free time. He was with his children. His children, at this time, did most of the painting. Of course he did all the preparation, all the sketching, all the shapes, all the light, all the perspective. And he didn't have much to do in the winter. So what he did was, he accepted orders during the winter and painted. Let's see some. These canvases are much more intimate. They are called History of Rinaldo and Armida, from 1757. First, Armida finds Rinaldo sleeping. Then Rinaldo and Armida are in a garden. Then Rinaldo abandons Armida. And finally, we have Rinaldo and the Wizard of Ascalon. In these works, Tiepolo develops his taste for lyrical atmospheres and for the most dreamy landscape. The works were created by Tiepolo with the help of one of his sons, Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo. Together they created these wonderful works. And they also created this other, very famous, it is a piece for the altar of the Cathedral of Este. Santa Tecla, Libertan West of Prague, a work of 1759. Now Tiepolo is already somewhat advanced with age. But even so, he accepts the invitation to go to the Court of Spain. How could he refuse the most powerful king in the world? But before going, he decides to accept an order from a very important family in Venice, the Pisani family. This family built a palace, which was more or less the vassal of Venice. And for this new palace, Villa Pisani, Tiepolo created this work, The Apotheosis of the Pisani Family, a work of 1762. This is an impressive work. Here we see male and female satyrs surrounded by children. Among the decorations, Tiepolo painted several portraits of the family and images with great sensuality. They are clearly Recoco works, aren't they? After finishing this work, Tiepolo goes to Spain. He doesn't know, but he will never return to Venice. But he goes to Spain. The invitation came from Carlos III. And Tiepolo arrives in Madrid in 1762 with his two sons, Giovanni Domenico and Lorenzo. In Spain, he is invited to paint three different roofs of the Royal Palace. Here, he only organizes, practically, he hardly paints. He organizes the work, directs the children and his team, because he has a large team. And he is already very old, so he hardly paints. The roofs are painted. However, the studies that Tiepolo presented did not please the Spaniards. They were more baroque, dramatic, gloomy. Tiepolo was in a completely Recoco phase and he wanted light and vibrant colors. So what happened? When they saw the study, they asked him to make things brighter. So, his children painted the roof, under the direction of Tiepolo, with much less vibrant colors than those in Tiepolo's study. Even so, he painted the roofs. There are three. The Power of the Spanish Monarchy, the Apotheosis of the Spanish Monarchy and Aeneas Guide to the Temple of Venus. These works by Tiepolo are of an incredible complexity of perspective, but also of chromatic balance. Tiepolo showed light and color, almost poetic, melancholic and intimate, and spectacular at the same time, to a Spanish color that was very solemn, very gloomy, very dark. Tiepolo, unfortunately, does not return to Venice. He ends up dying in Madrid in 1770. After his death, the Spanish court hated, hated those roofs. The Spaniards considered this art strange and bizarre. Tiepolo himself was considered like that. Of course, nowadays it's none of this. But imagine the impact, all those people in black, with that art, still very Baroque. Looking up and seeing these wonderful things, I couldn't quite get my head around it. Tiepolo then passed away. He left his children painters. They also made a career. None of them had, obviously, the prominence of the father. But they tried and continued. He left a huge legacy, because he opened the doors of the Italian rococo throughout the world. We have a video about rococo in Germany, where we talk about Tiepolo, where we talk about several painters who came from other parts. The world has changed. People no longer painted alone in their homeland, nor in their country. They walked everywhere, received new things and returned new things to the world. Venice was the city of light, of luminosity, of clarity. But the painters took this to all the courts in Europe. And that's it. This was a video about the life and work of Tiepolo, one of the greatest Italian rococo painters. In the coming weeks, we will have analysis of Italian rococo works. We will talk about great works by Tiepolo, but we will also talk about works by other painters. Once again, I would like to thank the members of the Criarte Club, who make this content possible. It is thanks to them that I buy all my books here. Thank you very much. You are loved. I love you. It is for you that I work. To our subscribers, I also want to leave a kiss of gratitude, because we work in exchange for views and likes. Leave a comment on what is your favorite work by Tiepolo, because if you don't have it on my list of works to analyze, I'll go there, I'll see and I'll analyze it here for you, okay? That's all for today. Take care. I'm Sara. Bye.