Image

A red and white chalk study of Vittoria’s marble bust of Guilio Contarini. Contarini is seen in profile, his flowing beard and hair merging with the white of the page.
A red and white chalk study of Vittoria’s marble bust of Guilio Contarini. Contarini is seen in profile, his flowing beard and hair merging with the white of the page.
A red and white chalk study of Vittoria’s marble bust of Guilio Contarini. Contarini is seen in profile, his flowing beard and hair merging with the white of the page.
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Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Study after Alessandro Vittoria's Bust of Giulio Contarini

Description

Maker

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696-1770)

Title

Study after Alessandro Vittoria's Bust of Giulio Contarini

Year

ca. 1743

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

chalk, white heightening

Supports

Dimensions

Sheet: 23.3 x 16.8 cm (9 3/16 x 6 5/8 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

48.427

Type

Provenance

. . . - 1882, Collection of Bossi-Beyerlen, Stuttgart.

1882, Sale Bossi-Beyerlen auction, Stuttgart, on 03/27/1882, Lot 443.

. . . - 1927, Collection of Dr. Hans Wendland, Lugano.

. . . - 1948, Collection of Philip Hofer, Cambridge, MA, [1898-1984].

1948, Purchased by the RISD Museum from Philip Hofer on 11/30/1948.

Projects & Publications

Publications

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Drawing Closer
Four Hundred Years of Drawing from the RISD Museum
Mar 12, 2022 – Sep 04, 2022

Label copy

This close-up study of an older man gazing intently to the left was not based on a live model, but on a terra-cotta sculpture. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo kept the bust in his studio and made a number of drawings after it, studying the features from different angles and distances. These drawn exercises reveal that Tiepolo used the three-dimensional sculpture as a convenient means of sharpening his ability to observe and increasing his familiarity with the anatomy of the human head from various perspectives.

Old Master Drawings
Sep 02, 1983 – Oct 16, 1983
Venetian Drawings and Prints of the 18th Century
Jan 12, 1967 – Feb 05, 1967
Italian Drawings from the Museum's Collection
Mar 17, 1961 – Apr 16, 1961

Related Publications

Related Publications

Use & Feedback

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This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696-1770)
Study after Alessandro Vittoria's Bust of Giulio Contarini, ca. 1743
Red and white chalk on blue laid paper
Sheet: 23.3 x 16.8 cm (9 3/16 x 6 5/8 inches)
Museum Works of Art Fund 48.427

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