Raccolta di Teste

About this artwork

verzamelaarsmerk, verso midden onder, gestempeld: Lugt 2228

Art Historical Context

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo created *Raccolta di Teste* (“Collection of Heads”) in 1774 as a delicate etching measuring just 121 by 103 millimeters. The Venetian artist, son of the fresco painter Giambattista Tiepolo, frequently turned to printmaking in his later career to explore expressive character studies. This small sheet belongs to a larger series of head studies that capture a range of ages, expressions, and social types with economical yet lively line work. Etching allowed Tiepolo to achieve fine tonal gradations and spontaneous-looking strokes on a miniature scale, making the medium ideal for intimate, portable works meant for collectors. The presence of the Lugt 2228 collector’s stamp on the verso confirms that this impression passed through distinguished hands, underscoring the print’s appeal to connoisseurs of eighteenth-century graphic art. Though modest in size, *Raccolta di Teste* reflects the Enlightenment interest in physiognomy and human variety, inviting viewers to read personality in every etched feature.

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...