Giandomenico was born
in Venice on 30 August 1727; he was the third of the ten
children born to Giambattista Tiepolo and Cecilia Guardi,
who had married in 1719. At a very young age he began his
apprenticeship in his father's successful workshop. There,
as was traditional, he studied models by the master of the
workshop and by other artists, also from past centuries: his
earliest documented works are in fact graphic copies after
paintings by Giovanni Bellini, Titian and Palma il
Vecchio.
He worked alongside Giambattista, collaborating with him on the great decorative enterprises undertaken from the mid-1740s, like that of Palazzo Labia (1746-1747); only later did he embark upon an independent career, painting in 1747-49 the twenty-four canvases, including the Via Crucis, for the oratory of the Crucifix at the church of San Polo and in 1750 the altarpiece of Merlengo (near Treviso). In 1750 he set out for Wurzburg, together with his father, who had been summoned to paint the frescoes of the Residence of Bishop Karl Philipp von Greiffenclau. While in Franconia he produced numerous paintings for the same Residence (including the paintings over the doors in the Kaisersaal) and for other patrons. In these works he interpreted his father's forms in a style that already tended to the classical.
Returning to Venice in 1753, he continued to collaborate on the great decorative enterprises projected by Giambattista and, at the same time, pursued his own independent career, centred on the production of small and medium-size canvases with religious and genre scenes; he also began to create numerous "character heads" derived from models by his father. His style became lively and easy, in the manner of rocaille.
He also worked in fresco, decorating the chancel of the church of SS. Faustino e Giovita in Brescia in 1754-55. But he soon began to devote himself to creating paintings thematically centred on everyday life: in Wurzburg he had painted a Gypsy Camp; in Mainz in the late 1750s he did several paintings of carnival costume-parties, minuets, and charlatans.
His position within the Tiepolo workshop had meanwhile become firmly consolidated. In 1757, when Giambattista was summoned to decorate the Vicentine villa of Giustino Valmarana, Giandomenico was entrusted with the entire building of the Foresteria, where he was able to give free vent to his own lively imagination, creating a magnificent series of frescoes depicting peasant-life, noblemen promenading, The New World, and also a series of images of oriental life, in homage to the fashion for "chinoiseries".
In 1759 he began work on the decoration of the villa of Zianigo, which Giambattista had bought two years earlier. Giandomenico was to work on this task at irregular intervals over the years until 1797, if not later; in the meantime he collaborated with Giambattista on several enterprises in Vicenza, Verona, Venice, Stra and Udine, at the same time producing his own works, such as The Pool of Bethesda now in Philadelphia and Christ and the Adulteress at the Louvre.
From 1762 to 1770 Giandomenico was in Madrid, where his father was first engaged in frescoing the ceilings of some rooms in the Royal Palace and subsequently in creating altarpieces for the royal church of Aranjuez; here again Giandomenico's collaboration appears to have been decisive. Some of his most famous paintings date from his period, such as the Burchiello in Vienna and the Departing Gondola in the Wrightsman collection in New York.After Giambattista's death, in March 1770, Giandomenico came back to Venice. He returned to frescoing churches and palazzi in the city and its territory, although on a smaller scale. He made use of his father's schemes, although he interpreted them in a markedly less brilliant style as the years went by. He also obtained a commission to decorate the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in the Ducal Palace of Genoa, where in 1785 he painted the Glory of Jacopo Giustiniani, a work which was destroyed in the nineteenth century.
However, in this period his interest was concentrated on graphic work, with the publication between 1774 and 1778 of four editions containing his own engravings (the series of the Via Crucis, of the Idee pittoresche sopra la Fuga in Egitto [Picturesque Ideas on the Flight to Egypt] and the Teste [Heads], as well as reproductions from his father's works) and those created by his father and his brother Lorenzo. He also produced an enormous number of drawings linked thematically to everyday life, although seen in a grotesque light, to imaginative scenes of satyrs and satyresses and to the figure of Punchinello, who became the unrivalled protagonist of the 140 sheets that composed the album entitled Divertimento per li Ragazzi.
Giandomenico died in Venice on 3 March 1804, at the age of seventy-seven.
Filippo Pedrocco
He worked alongside Giambattista, collaborating with him on the great decorative enterprises undertaken from the mid-1740s, like that of Palazzo Labia (1746-1747); only later did he embark upon an independent career, painting in 1747-49 the twenty-four canvases, including the Via Crucis, for the oratory of the Crucifix at the church of San Polo and in 1750 the altarpiece of Merlengo (near Treviso). In 1750 he set out for Wurzburg, together with his father, who had been summoned to paint the frescoes of the Residence of Bishop Karl Philipp von Greiffenclau. While in Franconia he produced numerous paintings for the same Residence (including the paintings over the doors in the Kaisersaal) and for other patrons. In these works he interpreted his father's forms in a style that already tended to the classical.
Returning to Venice in 1753, he continued to collaborate on the great decorative enterprises projected by Giambattista and, at the same time, pursued his own independent career, centred on the production of small and medium-size canvases with religious and genre scenes; he also began to create numerous "character heads" derived from models by his father. His style became lively and easy, in the manner of rocaille.
He also worked in fresco, decorating the chancel of the church of SS. Faustino e Giovita in Brescia in 1754-55. But he soon began to devote himself to creating paintings thematically centred on everyday life: in Wurzburg he had painted a Gypsy Camp; in Mainz in the late 1750s he did several paintings of carnival costume-parties, minuets, and charlatans.
His position within the Tiepolo workshop had meanwhile become firmly consolidated. In 1757, when Giambattista was summoned to decorate the Vicentine villa of Giustino Valmarana, Giandomenico was entrusted with the entire building of the Foresteria, where he was able to give free vent to his own lively imagination, creating a magnificent series of frescoes depicting peasant-life, noblemen promenading, The New World, and also a series of images of oriental life, in homage to the fashion for "chinoiseries".
In 1759 he began work on the decoration of the villa of Zianigo, which Giambattista had bought two years earlier. Giandomenico was to work on this task at irregular intervals over the years until 1797, if not later; in the meantime he collaborated with Giambattista on several enterprises in Vicenza, Verona, Venice, Stra and Udine, at the same time producing his own works, such as The Pool of Bethesda now in Philadelphia and Christ and the Adulteress at the Louvre.
From 1762 to 1770 Giandomenico was in Madrid, where his father was first engaged in frescoing the ceilings of some rooms in the Royal Palace and subsequently in creating altarpieces for the royal church of Aranjuez; here again Giandomenico's collaboration appears to have been decisive. Some of his most famous paintings date from his period, such as the Burchiello in Vienna and the Departing Gondola in the Wrightsman collection in New York.After Giambattista's death, in March 1770, Giandomenico came back to Venice. He returned to frescoing churches and palazzi in the city and its territory, although on a smaller scale. He made use of his father's schemes, although he interpreted them in a markedly less brilliant style as the years went by. He also obtained a commission to decorate the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in the Ducal Palace of Genoa, where in 1785 he painted the Glory of Jacopo Giustiniani, a work which was destroyed in the nineteenth century.
However, in this period his interest was concentrated on graphic work, with the publication between 1774 and 1778 of four editions containing his own engravings (the series of the Via Crucis, of the Idee pittoresche sopra la Fuga in Egitto [Picturesque Ideas on the Flight to Egypt] and the Teste [Heads], as well as reproductions from his father's works) and those created by his father and his brother Lorenzo. He also produced an enormous number of drawings linked thematically to everyday life, although seen in a grotesque light, to imaginative scenes of satyrs and satyresses and to the figure of Punchinello, who became the unrivalled protagonist of the 140 sheets that composed the album entitled Divertimento per li Ragazzi.
Giandomenico died in Venice on 3 March 1804, at the age of seventy-seven.
Filippo Pedrocco