The Glorification of the Barbaro Familyca. 1750
Seen from below, as if through an opening in the ceiling, allegorical figures rise into a luminous sky to celebrate the Barbaro, one of the old patrician families of Venice. More about this work
About this work
Seen from below, as if through an opening in the ceiling, allegorical figures rise into a luminous sky to celebrate the Barbaro, one of the old patrician families of Venice. The canvas was painted around 1750 for a ceiling in the family’s palace on the Grand Canal. Tiepolo was the supreme master of this kind of illusion, foreshortening his figures so that they seem to float overhead among clouds and putti, bathed in silvery light.
Written by Ochre Editions.
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
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.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Met has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 23.128
- Credit
- Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Type
- Paintings
- Department
- European Paintings
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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