Door
c. 1750
Medium
Wood, gessoed and lacquered with polychrome decoration and gilding
Dimensions
277.9 × 149 × 7.7 cm (109 3/8 × 58 5/8 × 3 in.)
Classification
wood
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
79763
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
First sparked by the accounts of Marco Polo’s 13th-century voyage to China, the Italian vogue for chinoiserie (Chinese-inspired motifs) was later reinforced by the Venetian Republic’s extensive trade with the East. The city-state’s aristocrats ordered entire rooms to be decorated in Chinese style. One palace on the Grand Canal, the Ca’Rezzonico, now a museum of decorative arts, was lavishly decorated by the Rezzonico family after they purchased it in 1750. In addition to commissioning the painte...
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...