Tall Gentleman Seen from Back

Artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696 - 1770)

Datemid-18th century

MediumBistre pen and wash on paper

DimensionsSheet: 7 1/8 × 4 1/4 inches (18.1 × 10.8 cm)
Framed: 13 3/4 × 12 1/8 inches (34.93 × 30.8 cm)

Credit LineBequest of Estelle S. Ellis

Object number2005.10.1

On View

Not on view

Collections

European Art

Terms

DescriptionThis drawing is executed in pen and brown ink with brown wash. It shows a man in breeches seen from behind wearing a short coat, a hat, and a wig with a bow on th end. A sword appears to stick out from under his coat. The drawing is octagonal in shape with its corners cut.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Caricature, Fashion and Fantasy, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 18-December 14, 2014.

Gallery Label

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was famous for his largescale frescoes, however, he would sometimes take time out to do caricatures like these. The view from the back stimulates us to imagine how the gentlemen might look from the front! The thin, pale washes are handled with great delicacy, softening the biting impact of the caricatures.

Provenance

Possibly Arthur Kay (1860-1939), Edinburgh;

Possibly Ancient and Modern Pictures and Drawings also Original Ancient and Modern Etchings and Engravings; The Property of Arthur Kay, H.R.S.A., F.S.A., deceased, late of 11, Regent Terrace, Edinburgh sale, Christie’s, Manson, and Woods, April 8-9, 1943, no. 243, as A Man, standing with his back to the spectator, wearing a hat;

Bequeathed by Estelle (née Stone, 1924-2004) Ellis, Shawnee Mission, KS, to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.

Published References

Possibly Catalogue of Ancient and Modern Pictures and Drawings also Original Ancient and Modern Etchings and Engravings; The Property of Arthur Kay, H.R.S.A., F.S.A., deceased, late of 11, Regent Terrace, Edinburgh (London: Christie, Manson, and Woods, April 8-9, 1943), 23, as A Man, standing with his back to the spectator, wearing a hat.

George Knox, A Panorama of Tiepolo Drawings (Bologna, Italy: Grafiche Zanini, 2008), (repro.).

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