Angels in the Sky
before 1762
Medium
Pen and gray and brown ink, gray and brown wash
Dimensions
6 1/2 x 9 1/16 in. (16.5 x 23 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.484
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the ethereal *Angels in the Sky Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo a heavenly host drifting amid, showcasing the Venetian master's gift for dynamic, otherworldly scenes. Created before 1762, this drawing reflects the Rococo style's playful elegance, inherited from his father, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, era's preeminent fresco painter. Domenico, active in Venice's vibrant 18th-century art scene often produced such sketches as studies for larger commissions or standalone works, blending religious devotion with whimsical fantasy—a nod to Baroque influences tempered by Enlightenment lightness. Executed...
About the Artist
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo · 1727–1804
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727-1804) was a Venetian painter, printmaker, and draftsman whose career spanned the twilight of the Rococo era. Born on August 30, 1727, in Venice as the eldest son of the celebrated Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, he worked both in his father's shadow and as a significant independent artist who developed a distinctly earthbound and humanistic vision. Domenico's importance...