Giambattista Tiepolo, Abramo visitato dagli angeli, Venezia Scuola Grande di San rocco, olio su tela 133 x 112 cm.

Giambattista Tiepolo and Villa Manin in Passariano. Together they evoke an extraordinary event: the exhibition staged in 1971 on the 200th anniversary of the painter's death, the event that was to mark the turning point in his critical legacy. 

Years later, the organization "Azienda Speciale Villa Manin" and the government of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region have chosen that same venue to mount a monographic exhibition that canvasses the painter's elaborate artistic career. In the light of the many studies conducted since then, this challenging exhibition enables a more extensive and detailed assessment of Tiepolo's works, as it documents his stylistic evolution and identifies several key moments in his relations with his patrons. 

The exhibition surveys single paintings while at the same time commemorating the main clients and intellectuals - such as Scipione Maffei, Francesco Algarotti, the Zanetti cousins - who supported the artist right from the beginning and influenced his cultural development. 

Thanks to the extremely demanding restoration conducted specifically in view of this exhibition, it is now possible to appreciate works which would otherwise have hardly been viewable due to their location, as well as works which were at risk of being compromised due to recent, traumatic events.

Giambattista Tiepolo, Zefiro e Flora, Venezia Ca' Rezzonico Museo del Settecento Veneziano, olio su tela 395 x 225 cm.

Giambattista Tiepolo, a brilliant career in Venice and Europe

Several outstanding paintings by the most celebrated painter in Europe during the eighteenth century will adorn the sumptuous rooms of Villa Manin in Passariano, the spectacular residence of the last Doge of Venice, lavishly set in the vast Friulian plain and widely acknowledged as one of the most important Venetian villas for beauty and historic significance. The carefully selected paintings of religious and secular subjects come from places of worship in Venice and the Venetian countryside, but also from public institutions and prestigious European and American museums (Budapest, London, Paris, Madrid, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Montreal, New York) illustrating the entire artistic career of Giambattista Tiepolo (Venice 1696 - Madrid 1770), from his early productions as a young artist to the late mature works that firmly established him as a first-class painter.

The show surveys the amazing adventure of this artist who worked a lot in his hometown, in the Venetian mainland, and in Lombardy, painting frescoes in villas, palaces, and churches, as well as luminous canvases with historical and mythological contents, but also religious subjects, to the point of being considered the last great painter of sacred art in Europe. Such was his fame that he was commissioned to paint fresco decorations in the Würzburg Residence and in the Royal Palace in Madrid.

Several canvases (some of which are enormous in size) are displayed alongside their preparatory sketches (such as the 675x390 cm altar piece from the Duomo of Este and its 81x45 cm preparatory sketch from the New York Metropolitan Museum), so that the artist's extraordinary creative talent and rare technical skills may be fully appreciated and assessed. Among the exhibits are also paintings that were ruined in time and restored for this occasion, and several fine drawings, all of which makes the exhibition an excitingly beautiful, highly scientific, spectacular and all the while broadly educational event.

Giambattista Tiepolo, L'educazione della Vergine, Digione Musée des Beaux Arts, olio su tela 48 x 27 cm.

Scientific Project

Giambattista Tiepolo and Villa Manin in Passariano. Together they evoke an extraordinary event: the exhibition staged in 1971 on the 200th anniversary of the painter's death, the event that was to mark the turning point in his critical legacy.

Years later, the organization "Azienda Speciale Villa Manin" and the government of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region have chosen that same venue to mount a monographic exhibition that canvasses the painter's elaborate artistic career. In the light of the many studies conducted since then, this challenging exhibition enables a more extensive and detailed assessment of Tiepolo's works, as it documents his stylistic evolution and identifies several key moments in his relations with his patrons. The exhibition surveys single paintings, while at the same time commemorating the main clients and intellectuals - such as Scipione Maffei, Francesco Algarotti, the Zanetti cousins - who supported the artist right from the beginning and influenced his cultural development. Thanks to the extremely demanding restoration conducted specifically in view of this exhibition, it is now possible to appreciate works which would otherwise have hardly been viewable due to their location, as well as works which were at risk of being compromised due to recent, traumatic events.

Tiepolo was arguably the most famous Venetian painter in the eighteenth century, the tireless creator of monumental paintings on canvas or frescoes, the indisputable holder of the monopoly of palace decorating both in Venice and on the mainland. Princes and kings from all over Europe contended for his services. The exhibition chronicles his long and prolific activity through a group of particularly significant works, depicting religious and secular subjects, and best representing the enormous variety of works that were commissioned to the painter: allegorical ceilings, altar pieces, decorations in villas.

The exhibition also includes several enormous paintings since, as the painter himself once said, "Painters must be able to carry out large works [...] hence the Painter's mind must always strive to achieve Sublimation, Heroism, Perfection".

In some cases, the elaborate preparatory work - from the drawings to the sketch and finally to the completed work - is displayed in such great detail that one feels deeply engrossed in Tiepolo's magical world. Particularly delightful are the paintings with historical or mythological subjects, where the painter released his impetuous artistic ability to the full: he did not restrict himself to depicting famous past events, but went on to examine the inner disposition of his characters, bringing to the fore their passions and personal qualities. Equally important and of great emotional impact are the paintings commissioned for churches, as they remind us that Tiepolo was the last inspired painter of Western sacred art.

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, "Neptune Offering Gifts to Venice", oil on Canvas, 1740s.