Sketch for a Ceiling
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
unframed: 41 × 34 cm · framed: 51.5 × 43 × 6.5 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Holden Collection
Accession Number
1916.780
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
This small, quickly painted picture is typical of the sketches Tiepolo made as studies for larger compositions. When completed full-scale on a ceiling, works like these give the impression of a massive window, through which one can see angels or mythological beings floating among the clouds. Although we know from the work's shape that it was a study for a ceiling painting, it is not related to any of Tiepolo's finished architectural decorations. Tiepolo used such sketches to explore design probl...