Two Monks Contemplating a Skull
c. 1730–35
Medium
Brush and brown ink and brush and brown wash, over traces of black chalk, on ivory laid paper, laid down on tan wove paper
Dimensions
43.7 × 29.6 cm (17 1/4 × 11 11/16 in.)
Classification
ink or chalk wash
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
8816
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...