The Adoration of the Magi

The Adoration of the Magi, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's largest etching, is related to a much smaller drawing by the artist in pen and brown wash over pencil at the Cantor Arts Center in Stanford, yet one is not a copy or translation of the other into a different medium. The artist clearly saw them as very different works, and Tiepolo's drawing style and his etching manner are quite distinct: in his drawings (see also the following lot), the use of wash lends weight to his figures and objects and grounds the composition, and his lines, however sketchy, are long and firm; the etching in contrast is made up of a myriad of short lines and tiny flicks of the needle. By varying the density and direction of his etched marks, he creates shading and texture. The overall effect of the print is one of constant flux: everything seems aflutter, as if a gust of wind could make the whole scene diffuse and disappear. It is a stylistic peculiarity that can be observed in some of Giovanni Battista's best etchings, in particular the Scherzi and some of the Capricci, and goes beyond mere technical or aesthetic considerations. Rather, by formal means, Tiepolo seems to make a philosophical point: the visible world is not a solid place, but a mirage - diaphanous, fleeting and ephemeral.