# Allegory of the Planets and Continents

**Giovanni Battista Tiepolo** (Italian, 1696–1770)  
1752  
Oil on canvas  
73 x 54 7/8 in. (185.4 x 139.4 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977.1.3. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437790).

## About this work

This is Tiepolo’s oil sketch for the vast ceiling fresco over the staircase of the Residenz in Würzburg, made in 1752 for his patron, the prince-bishop Carl Philipp von Greiffenklau. Apollo rises at the summit of the sky among the gods of the planets, while along the edges personifications of the four continents, Europe, Asia, Africa and America, gather with their attributes, among them an elephant and a horse. Though only a sketch, it captures the luminous colour and airy, spiralling space of what became one of the largest ceiling paintings ever made.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo painted this in 1752, aged 56. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Giovanni Battista Tiepolo](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/giovanni-battista-tiepolo)

Italian, 1696–1770; born in Venice; died in Madrid

Tiepolo was the leading decorative painter of eighteenth-century Europe, covering ceilings and walls with airy skies, foreshortened figures and luminous colour. After establishing himself in Venice, he worked with his sons Giandomenico and Lorenzo on the frescoes of the Residenz at Würzburg in 1750–53, and in 1762 he went to Madrid to decorate the Royal Palace for Charles III, remaining there until his death. Rinaldo and Armida, the lovers of Tasso’s epic Jerusalem Delivered, were subjects he painted more than once.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Paintings
- The artist was 56
- Real size: about 73 × 55 in (185 × 139 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 20 × 30 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 18th century
- Subjects: Men, Male Nudes, Women, Female Nudes, Elephants, Horses
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1166.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1166/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/allegory-of-the-planets-and-continents-met-437790).