Mercury Appearing to a Marine Deity and a Nymph
1696–1770
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brush and pale and dark brown wash, over black chalk and leadpoint (?)
Dimensions
10 3/16 x 8 3/8in. (25.9 x 21.3cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1937
Accession Number
37.165.28
Tags
Art Historical Context
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (6–1770), a master of the Venetian Rococo style, created this dynamic drawing titled *Mercury Appearing to a Deity and a N*. Depicting a lively mythological encounter, it shows the swift messenger god Mercury descending to surprise a sea deity and a graceful nymph, evoking the playful grandeur of classical tales from Ovid's *Metamorphoses*. Tolo's works often featured such ethereal figures, blending drama and lightness in grand frescoes for palaces and churches across Europe. Executed in pen and brown ink with brush and wash over black chalk and leadpoint, this 10 3/...
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...