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Lot Essay
This compelling depiction of an elderly man is one of several fantasy heads, or ‘philosopher portraits’, painted by Giandomenico Tiepolo in the late 1750s. These invariably depict bearded men in bust-length, dressed in unconventional costumes. Giandomenico painted them in direct response to a series of portraits by his father and teacher, Giambattista Tiepolo. He made etchings based on Giambattista’s imaginary heads – known through the latter’s drawings, engravings and paintings – and published them in his Raccolta di Teste, the first volume of which was underway in 1757. Given the number of these imaginary portraits – both painted and engraved – produced by both Giambattista and Giandomenico, they must have enjoyed considerable popularity, particularly since they consciously continued a long European artistic tradition dating back to the costumed heads (or tronies) of Rembrandt.
Giandomenico produced sixty etchings of ‘philosopher portraits’, in two phases: twenty-seven plates date from around 1757 and thirty-three more plates were added after Giambattista’s death in 1770. As noted by George Knox, for each etched design there were often a number of painted variants – in one case, as many as ten (see G. Knox, ‘‘'Philosopher Portraits' by Giambattista, Domenico and Lorenzo Tiepolo’, The Burlington Magazine, CXVII, no. 864, March 1975, pp.147-55). A formidable example, also inspired by Giambattista and connected to an engraving, is Giandomenico’s dazzling painting of A Bearded Man wearing a Turban which was sold at Christie’s, New York, 31 January 2024, lot 75 ($945,000), and is now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (inv. 2025.6).
A wizened old man looks out with an arresting gaze, his piercing blue eyes sparkling from beneath hooded lids. His expression is deeply characterful, with the hairs of his brows, moustache, beard and fur collar all evoked through spirited brushstrokes of varying thickness, effectively conveying the texture of different hair and fur. The fluid handling of paint, deftly used to define the structure and highlights of the eyes, nose and pouting lower lip, demonstrates a spontaneity and confidence found only in Giandomenico’s autograph works. The artist appears to have made changes during painting: the fur collar has been extended on the man’s (proper) left shoulder, and where it was more thinly painted, the petroleum blue of his coat becomes visible.
The etching that relates to this particular painting was published by Giandomenico in the first book of his Raccolta di Teste, no. 17 (see A. Rizzi, The etchings of the Tiepolos, Venice, 1971, p. 362, no. 177; fig. 1). Here, too, the point of departure seems to have been a painting by Giambattista portraying an old man turning to the right, now held in Ca’ Rezzonico, Venice (on deposit from the collection of Antonio Rusconi, Trieste; M. Gemin and F. Pedrocco, Giambattista Tiepolo. I dipinti. Opera completa, Venice, 1993, p. 511, no. 54, illustrated). The etching reverses Giambattista’s painted figure but retains details such as his hand, the masked brooch on his shoulder, and the elaborate clasp at the front of his exotic headgear. The present picture is clearly inspired by Giambattista’s design, although the clasp is shaped differently, and the man’s cloak opens at the chest to reveal a gold chain looped around his neck. By omitting the hand, which in the engraving gives the figure a somewhat compressed and awkward appearance, Giandomenico places greater emphasis here on the man’s head and his sympathetic gaze.
Though the painting’s early history is not known, it was perhaps commissioned towards the end of the 1750s, around the time or shortly after the publication of Giandomenico’s Raccolta di Teste. Fantasy heads such as these must have appealed to an increasingly sophisticated eighteenth-century audience of collectors, connoisseurs and foreign visitors to Venice. This is evidenced by the existence of at least two copies of the present work: one in the Residenzgalerie, Salzburg (inv. 223; 43.5 x 36.5 cm.), and the other, more tightly cropped and depicting the man wearing a green rather than blue coat, in the Museo Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid (inv. 2152; 41.5 x 35.5 cm.).
Giandomenico produced sixty etchings of ‘philosopher portraits’, in two phases: twenty-seven plates date from around 1757 and thirty-three more plates were added after Giambattista’s death in 1770. As noted by George Knox, for each etched design there were often a number of painted variants – in one case, as many as ten (see G. Knox, ‘‘'Philosopher Portraits' by Giambattista, Domenico and Lorenzo Tiepolo’, The Burlington Magazine, CXVII, no. 864, March 1975, pp.147-55). A formidable example, also inspired by Giambattista and connected to an engraving, is Giandomenico’s dazzling painting of A Bearded Man wearing a Turban which was sold at Christie’s, New York, 31 January 2024, lot 75 ($945,000), and is now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (inv. 2025.6).
A wizened old man looks out with an arresting gaze, his piercing blue eyes sparkling from beneath hooded lids. His expression is deeply characterful, with the hairs of his brows, moustache, beard and fur collar all evoked through spirited brushstrokes of varying thickness, effectively conveying the texture of different hair and fur. The fluid handling of paint, deftly used to define the structure and highlights of the eyes, nose and pouting lower lip, demonstrates a spontaneity and confidence found only in Giandomenico’s autograph works. The artist appears to have made changes during painting: the fur collar has been extended on the man’s (proper) left shoulder, and where it was more thinly painted, the petroleum blue of his coat becomes visible.
The etching that relates to this particular painting was published by Giandomenico in the first book of his Raccolta di Teste, no. 17 (see A. Rizzi, The etchings of the Tiepolos, Venice, 1971, p. 362, no. 177; fig. 1). Here, too, the point of departure seems to have been a painting by Giambattista portraying an old man turning to the right, now held in Ca’ Rezzonico, Venice (on deposit from the collection of Antonio Rusconi, Trieste; M. Gemin and F. Pedrocco, Giambattista Tiepolo. I dipinti. Opera completa, Venice, 1993, p. 511, no. 54, illustrated). The etching reverses Giambattista’s painted figure but retains details such as his hand, the masked brooch on his shoulder, and the elaborate clasp at the front of his exotic headgear. The present picture is clearly inspired by Giambattista’s design, although the clasp is shaped differently, and the man’s cloak opens at the chest to reveal a gold chain looped around his neck. By omitting the hand, which in the engraving gives the figure a somewhat compressed and awkward appearance, Giandomenico places greater emphasis here on the man’s head and his sympathetic gaze.
Though the painting’s early history is not known, it was perhaps commissioned towards the end of the 1750s, around the time or shortly after the publication of Giandomenico’s Raccolta di Teste. Fantasy heads such as these must have appealed to an increasingly sophisticated eighteenth-century audience of collectors, connoisseurs and foreign visitors to Venice. This is evidenced by the existence of at least two copies of the present work: one in the Residenzgalerie, Salzburg (inv. 223; 43.5 x 36.5 cm.), and the other, more tightly cropped and depicting the man wearing a green rather than blue coat, in the Museo Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid (inv. 2152; 41.5 x 35.5 cm.).