This beautiful drawing is not associated with any of Tiepolo’s painted compositions, and its subject remains unclear. The cherubs, holding tools such as paintbrushes and a sculptor’s mallet, suggest that the figure may be Apollo, the Greco-Roman sun god who was also the patron of the arts. However, the unusual iconography allows for the possibility that it could be another deity. The painterly use of washes indicates that the drawing was created around the mid to late 1740s.

probably originally in one of the nine 'Cheney' albums sold in 1885, in which case the provenance is: mounted by the artist in an album and given to his son, Giuseppe Tiepolo, friar in the convent of the Somaschi, Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, 1762; kept in convent of the Somaschi until its suppression, 1810; acquired from there by Count Leopoldo Cicognara (1767-1834); acquired from him in an exchange by Antonio Canova (1754-1822); by descent to Monsignor Giovanni Battista Sartori-Canova (1775-1858); purchased from him by Francesco Pesaro, Venice; purchased from him by Edward Cheney, Badger Hall, Shropshire (1803-1884),1842; by descent to Colonel Alfred Capel Cure, Blake Hall, Ongar, Essex, (1826-1896); his sale, Sotheby's (London), 29 April 1885, lot 1024; purchased there by E. Parsons & Sons (London); possibly acquired in Ireland by William Fagg, Sydenham; B.T. Batsford (London); sold by them, Christie's (London), 14 July 1914, lot 49 (part of three volumes); purchased there by E. Parsons & Sons (London); purchased there by William Bateson, London (1861-1926), after 1918; Adrien Fauchier Magnan (1873-1963); his sale, Sotheby's (London), 4 December 1935, lot 53; purchased there by Count Antoine Seilern (1901-1978); Princes Gate Bequest 1978

All Spirit and Fire - Oil Sketches by Tiepolo, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 23/02/2006-29/05/2006

The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection B), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 29/01/1982-25/07/1982

Murillo and his drawings, The Art Museum, Princeton University, 12/12/1976-30/01/1977 ...More

The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection B), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1982
cat. no. 182

Seilern, Count Antoine, Italian paintings and drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London, SW7, London 1959; II
no. 153
pl. CXIII

Sack, Eduard, Giambattista und Domenico Tiepolo: ihr leben und ihre werke: ein Beitrag zur Kunstgeschichte de achtzehnten jahrhunderts, Hamburg 1910
no. 101, p. 251
fig. 238

Watermark: Watermark: Recto, left of centre: a “V” terminating in circles, unable to discern other small marks nearby (possibly like Heawood 3101 or 3102 - Verona 1739 or Venice 1694).

Inscription: Verso: lower left corner, graphite: “Sack Katalog No. 101”.

Collector's mark: none.