This arresting head study is one of several imaginary portraits of bearded men in outlandish costumes, probably intended to be philosophers, painted by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo. Such works were part of a broader movement of painted head studies that became widespread among eighteenth-century Venetian artists who were trying to satisfy the refined taste of a growing clientele of collectors, amateurs, and foreign visitors to Venice, who were eager to bring home an example of the renowned Venetian school of painting.
Giandomenico's head studies were produced in direct response to a series of "fantasy" portraits by the artist's father and teacher, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, in the second half of the 1740's. As Giambattista's paintings sat in the studio, both his sons Giandomenico and Lorenzo began drawing upon them for inspiration. Giandomenico created etchings after his father's original series, which he went on to publish in 1774 in a volume named "Raccolta di teste".
Prior to their formal publication, however, Giandomenico used these etchings as models for a set of his own paintings, to which the present canvas belongs. Since these heads follow the etchings closely, the present painting - and the rest of the series - can be dated after 1757-58, when the initial phase of the "Raccolta di teste" was complete. Though based on earlier models, Giandomenico's spirited heads are entirely different in style from those of his father Giambattista.
Their immediate and impressive effect are exemplified in the present canvas, with its dazzling and beautifully preserved brushwork. To a certain extent, the Tiepolo heads continue a long tradition in European art represented by the costumed heads of Rembrandt, the philosopher portraits of Jusepe de Ribera, and the "exotic" eastern figures of Giovanni Battista Castiglione (often in the form of etchings). A close parallel in France is represented by the famous "fantasy portraits" by Jean Honoré Fragonard.
Text: J. Paul Getty Trust, CC BY 4.0.
