A Panorama of Tiepolo Drawing

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, born in Venice in 1696, started as an apprentice in the studio of Gregorio Lazzarini and later trained in Venice with Federico Bencovich and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, and then with Sebastiano Ricci. In the 1720's he had already gained the position of an independent master, working mainly as a fresco painter. In his early frescoes in the Archbishop's Palace in Udine, dated 1726 to 1728, Tiepolo revealed his brilliant color sense for the first time. His contemporaries were amazed by these works and honored him with the title "celebre pittore". In 1731 he was invited to Milan to execute frescoes in the Palazzo Archint and in the Palazzo Dugnani. In nearby Bergamo, Tiepolo executed a prestigious assignment in the Capella Colleoni in 1732. In about 1747 he decorated the Palazzo Labia in Venice, and from 1750 to 1753, the Bishop's Palace in Würzburg, which was his masterpiece. After returning to Venice to paint other canvases and frescoes, in 1761 he was recalled to the Royal Palace in Madrid, where he remained until his death in 1770. Tiepolo's work is the most important product of the widespread rococo style of decoration in Europe