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Our Lady of Sorrows

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Basic information

ID: Ж-1468
Author: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Name: Our Lady of Sorrows
Date of creation: 1st half of the 18th c.
Technique: oil painting
Material: duplicated canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 56.5 x 44

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: religious
Plot: Our Lady of the Sorrows
Provenance: Collection of Lviv City Gallery
Exposition: Potocki Palace

Information about author

Author: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Artist's lifetime: 1696–1770
Country: Italy
Biography: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (variants of spelling of the name: Gianbattista or Giambattista) was an Italian artist, one of the most prominent masters of the Italian Rococo, a master of frescoes and engravings, and the last great representative of the Venetian School of painting. He was prolific and worked in Italy, Germany, and Spain. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, along with Giambattista Pittoni, Canaletto, Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Giuseppe Maria Crespi and Francesco Guardi, are recognised as the traditional old masters of the period.
Gianbattista Tiepolo was born on 5 March 1696 in Venice in the family of a skipper with many children, Domenico Tiepolo, a man of simple origins. In his youth, Tiepolo studied painting with the Venetian artist Gregorio Lazzarini, but art historians note that he was most influenced by Sebastiano Ricci, Paolo Veronese, and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. At 19, Tiepolo completed his first artistic commission – the painting "Sacrifice of Isaac". In 1717, the young artist left Lazzarini's studio and joined the Fraglia Painters' Guild. In 1719, he married Maria Cecilia Guardi, the sister of the famous Guardi artists Francesco and Giovanni Antonio. From 1726 to 1728, Tiepolo was commissioned by Dionisio Delfino, an aristocrat from Udine, to paint frescoes in a chapel and a palace. This brought him fame and new commissions – Tiepolo became a popular painter. In the following years, he painted a lot in Venice, as well as in Milan and Bergamo. In 1740, Tiepolo received an order to paint the ceiling on the second floor of the Scuola dei Carmini. In 1750, the Venetian painter became famous all over Europe, and in 1750–1753, he created his most famous work – the frescoes of the Wurzburg residence (Wurzburg, Germany). Upon returning to Italy, Tiepolo was elected president of the Padua Academy. In 1761, the Spanish King Charles III invited Tiepolo to Madrid, where the artist remained for the rest of his life. Tiepolo died in the Spanish capital on 27 March 1770.

Object description

Images of Our Lady of Sorrows are incredibly poignant, capturing the moment of her deepest emotional suffering. This image is intended to evoke empathy in believers, helping them open their own hearts and minds.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Our Lady of Sorrows

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