Illustration for a Book: Soldiers Driving Ox Carts with Banners
1696–1770
Medium
Black chalk. Horizontal and vertical centering lines ruled in faint black chalk
Dimensions
3 x 6-1/16 in. (7.6 x 15.4 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
Accession Number
59.600.197
Tags
Art Historical Context
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, celebrated Venetian Rococo master (1696–1770), created this intimate black chalk drawing as an illustration for a book Titled *Soldiers Driving Ox C with Banners*, it a dynamic scene of soldiers guiding ox-drawn carts adorned with fluttering banners. At just 3 x 6-1/16 inches (7.6 x 15.4 cm), the horizontal composition buzzes with movement, evoking the pageantry of 18th military processions or historical narratives common in illustrated volumes of the era. The artwork's medium—black chalk with faint ruled centering lines—reveals Tiepolo's meticulous preparatory proc...
About the Artist
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo · 1696–1770
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) stands as the greatest decorative painter of eighteenth-century Europe, a Venetian master whose luminous frescoes and dynamic compositions defined the Rococo era's aesthetic zenith. Born in Venice on March 5, 1696, to a modest shipping merchant family, Tiepolo's extraordinary talent transcended his humble origins to establish him as the most sought-after artis...