Giovanni Battista Tiepolo - The Chariot of Aurora (1760s)

This oil sketch was probably presented as a proposal by Tiepolo for the decoration of a ceiling in the royal palace in Madrid. Tiepolo was summoned to Spain in 1762 to decorate the throne room, but a ceiling representing Aurora was painted in the queen’s bedroom in 1763 by Tiepolo’s German rival, Anton Raphael Mengs.

Here, Aurora, goddess of dawn, crosses the sky in her chariot, accompanied by the Hours and heralded by Apollo; the figure of Time is on the right. Allegories of abundance appear in the form of Ceres, who holds a sheaf of wheat, and Bacchus, who wears a crown of leaves.