Illustration for a Book: Supplicants Imploring an Emperor for Peace
1696–1770
Medium
Black chalk. Horizontal and vertical centering lines ruled in faint black chalk
Dimensions
3 x 6-7/16 in. (7.6 x 16.3 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
59.600.201
Tags
Art Historical Context
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, master of the Venetian Rococo style (1696–1770), this intimate black chalk drawing as an illustration for a book. Titled *Supplicants Imploring Emperor for Peace*, it a dramatic moment of humility and power: humble figures kneel before a majestic emperor, pleading for mercy amid what evokes ancient Roman or imperial scenes. Tiepolo's lines and subtle shading bring emotional intensity to the composition, highlighting the contrast between the supplicants' desperation and the ruler's authority—common themes in 18th-century European art reflecting Enlightenment ideals of...
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...