Intesa Sanpaolo opens the exhibition ‘Giandomenico Tiepolo (1727–1804) in Vicenza. A new world’

The exhibition, organized under the patronage of the Municipality of Vicenza and in collaboration with the Martin von Wagner Museum der Universität Würzburg, presents 68 works coming from, among others, the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, the Musée du Louvre in Paris, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, the Martin von Wagner Museum of the University of Würzburg, the Galleries of the Academy of Venice, the Central Institute for the Graphics of Rome and important museums, ecclesiastical institutions and Italian collections. Among the works on display there is also a pantoscope from the Museo del Precinema in Padua.

The itinerary accompanies the visitor through the main stages of his career, from the early years spent alongside his father on the large decorative construction sites up to the works of his full maturity, revealing the extraordinary originality of a gaze that was able to transform the Venetian tradition into a personal reflection on the human landscape, on everyday life and on the theater of life.

The exhibition also retraces the journeys that marked the artist’s training, from Veneto to Germany to Spain, following an itinerary that highlights the evolution of his painting, drawing and engraving activity. Thus emerge the distinctive characteristics of a research capable of combining the great eighteenth-century decorative tradition with a completely new narrative and intimate sensitivity.

Michele Coppola, Executive Director of Art, Culture and Historical Heritage of Intesa Sanpaolo, states: “Bringing an exhibition to Vicenza which, taking inspiration from the permanent collections, allows us to rediscover an imaginative painter of the eighteenth century Veneto, means confirming the Gallerie d’Italia as a vital place in the city and reaffirming the bond of Intesa Sanpaolo and its museum with the Vicenza community. We work to enrich the cultural offer of the territory, alongside the city institutions and open-minded to dialogue with international realities, such as the Museum of the University of Würzburg. Alongside the great Giambattista, Giandomenico Tiepolo also deserves renewed attention: dedicating an exhibition to him on the occasion of the three hundredth anniversary of his birth makes this project a particularly significant opportunity to delve into his personality and role in the broader panorama of European painting.”

The exhibition delves into the main themes that defined Giandomenico Tiepolo’s production. From sacred painting, in which the light and naturalness of feelings give the figures a profound human intensity, to the famous engraving series Picturesque Ideas and Fun for Boys, authentic masterpieces of graphic invention; from the refined drawings inspired by his father’s models, testimony to his extraordinary technical ability, up to the refined Character Heads, in which a formal sensitivity emerges that looks to the lesson of Rembrandt.

A central space is dedicated to genre scenes which constitute one of the most innovative aspects of his production. In these works, the daily life of eighteenth-century Venice becomes a story, participatory observation and chronicle of reality. A famous example on display is the Mondo Novo, on loan from the Prado Museum in Madrid, in which the curiosity of the crowd gathered in front of a simple optical device is transformed into an extraordinary representation of the human desire to know, imagine and look beyond the present. It is precisely this ability to observe humanity with irony, empathy and psychological depth that makes Giandomenico one of the most modern interpreters of European figurative culture.

The last season of his activity finds expression in the famous Pulcinella cycle, created in the family villa in Zianigo. Through this figure, both comical and melancholic, the artist constructs a poetic universe in which the eighteenth-century repertoire is transformed into a personal reflection on time, memory and the human condition. Far from the spectacular nature of the great Baroque fresco, Giandomenico develops an increasingly intimate and free language, capable of anticipating a fully modern sensibility.

The exhibition thus intends to restore the complexity of an artist who, although trained in Giambattista Tiepolo’s workshop, was able to gain his own expressive autonomy, developing an original vision of reality, suspended between observation of everyday life, fantastic invention and profound attention for man. The title A New World recalls not only one of his most famous masterpieces, but also the artist’s ability to inaugurate a new way of looking at the world, in which great history leaves room for the gestures, faces and emotions of common life. The exhibition catalog is created by Società Editrice Allemandi.

As part of the exhibition, a rich program of #INSIDE activities is planned with historical-artistic insights, musical meetings, art & drink events. Thematic itineraries, guided tours and family labs are planned for visitors. Particular attention is paid to schools, for which a dedicated educational program is planned, divided into guided tours and creative workshops.

The exhibition also extends to the city through the Vicenza Tiepolo Card, created on the occasion of the third centenary of the artist’s birth to accompany the public in discovering the places in Vicenza linked to Giandomenico Tiepolo. The route connects the Gallerie d’Italia – Vicenza to the Foresteria of Villa Valmarana ai Nani, the Museum of Palazzo Chiericati and the Palladio Museum, offering an integrated cultural experience that allows you to delve deeper, through multiple locations, into the presence of the artist and his relationship with the city. The Card also offers discounts and the possibility of taking part in dedicated guided tours.

The Vicenza museum, together with those of Milan, Naples and Turin, is part of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Gallerie d’Italia museum project, led by Michele Coppola, Executive Director of Art, Culture and Historical Heritage of the Bank and General Director of the Gallerie d’Italia.