Giovan Battista Tiepolo

Giambattista Tiepolo was born in Venice in 1696 and died in Madrid in 1770.
He was the greatest decorator-painter of the 18th century, one of the last of the Venetian school, bringing together centuries of painting in his art.
He studied in the school of Gregorio Lazzari, but already in his first works the dramatic style of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta was clearly present. Towards 1730 he drew closer to the more luminous mode of painting of Sebastiano Ricci. He also felt the influence of the painting tradition of Paolo Veronese.
He was very much struck by the liveliness of the Venetian theatrical tradition of the day.
His fame as a virtuoso found him much work in Venice (the Sacristy of St Mark's, the Church of Santa Maria del Rosario, Palazzo Labia), Bergamo (Colleoni Chapel), Milan (the San Vittore Chapel in Sant'Ambrogio, Palazzi Archinti and Dugnani), Udine (Cappella della Purità), Vicenza (Villa Loschi Zileri, Villa Valmarana).
In some of these projects he collaborated with the trompe-d'oeil artist Girolamo Mengozzi Colonna.
Between 1750 and 1753 he was in Germany where he frescoed the castle of the Bishop count Schönborn of Würzburg; it was one of the loftiest moments of his art. In 1763 he moved to Madrid where Charles III appointed him Court painter; it was here that he painted his last works.
He had two sons who helped him in his work: Giandomenico (1727-1804), who continued his father's work, and Lorenzo (1736-1776), very good with pastels, nearly all whose work is now to be found in Madrid.