Satyr Leading a Centaur, Who Carries a Club, Bow and Quiver, Outside the Walls of a City
ca. 1771–91
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brown-gray wash, over traces of black chalk
Dimensions
7 1/2 x 11 in. (19 x 28 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.499
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the lively drawing *Satyr Leading a Cent, Who Carries a, Bow and Quiver Outside the Walls of a*, Giovanni Domenico Tiep captures a whimsical mythological moment from around 1771–91. The Venetian artist, son of the famed Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, a mischievous satyr guiding a muscular centaur—armed with a club, bow, and quiver—beyond the sturdy walls of an ancient city. This scene evokes the wild, fantastical world of Greek mythology, where satyrs (half-man, half-goat revelers) and centaurs (half-man, half-horse warriors) roam in playful or chaotic abandon. Tiepolo's masterful technique sh...
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...