1305 - Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo Hercules and Antaeus Pen and brush in grey and black over black chalk. 20 x 13,5 cm. Framed under glass. Signed lower right: dom° tiepolo / upper left numbered "9". The present sheet belongs to a series of studies of Hercules and Antaeus by Domenico Tiepolo, dating to the latter part of the artist’s career: this series does not relate to any painting or fresco by the artist, and may instead be belonging to the many pen and wash drawings – often variations on a theme. The largest single group of sheets of this subject - thirty-eight unnumbered sheets - were once part of an album formerly in the Henri Bordes collection and purchased by Colnaghi’s from Paul Prouté in 1936. A few numbered sheets representing Hercules are also known: one example, bearing number 94, entered the collection of the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin in 1902; the sheet numbered 77 was recently presented on the London art market and another was part of an album of drawings by Domenico Tiepolo belonging to the Earls Beauchamp (one of these, was numbered 36).