Giovanni Battista Tiepolo / Magician Pointing Out a Burning Head to Two Youths, from the "Scherzi di Fantasia" / 1750s

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Magician Pointing Out a Burning Head to Two Youths, from the "Scherzi di Fantasia"
1750s
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Creator Name: Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista
Creator Nationality: European; Southern European; Italian
Creator Role: Artist
Creator Dates/Places: 1696 - 1770
Gender: M
Creator Name-CRT: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Title: Magician Pointing Out a Burning Head to Two Youths, from the "Scherzi di Fantasia"
Title Type: Primary
View: Full View
Creation Start Date: 1750
Creation End Date: 1759
Creation Date: 1750s
Object Type: Prints
Materials and Techniques: etching
Dimensions: Sheet: 39cm x 27.1cm, Platemark: 22.6cm x 18.5cm
AMICA Contributor: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Owner Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
ID Number: 1998.113
Credit Line: Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
Rights: http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html
Context: Tiepolo was one of the most celebrated painters of the 18th century. Since his native Venice was a center for printmaking, it is not surprising that he became involved with etching, although he produced only 35 examples.The 23 prints included in the set of Scherzi are fanciful inventions lacking a narrative structure. Still, there are the recurring themes of the transitory nature of life and the 18th-century Venetian pre-occupation with magic, superstition, and witchcraft. Tiepolo improvised scenes of magicians and philosophers consulting horoscopes, skeletons, and snakes among ancient ruins. The emphasis on mys-terious magical incantations creates an eerie mood.The special quality of the Scherzi is the sensation of sunlight bathing each scene and dissolving form, an illusion created by the contrast of the nervous, broken etched lines against white paper. The subtleties of these prints can only be fully appreciated when they are seen in perfectly preserved, carefully inked and printed impressions, like this beautiful early proof.
AMICA ID: CMA_.1998.113
AMICA Library Year: 2000
Media Metadata Rights: Copyright, The Cleveland Museum of Art

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