Soldiers Around a Monument
1743–45
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brown wash, with white heightening over black chalk
Dimensions
16 5/8 x 11 in. (42.3 x 28 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.448
Tags
Art Historical Context
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, master of the Venetian Roc style, created *Soldiers Around a Monument* around 1743–45 as a dynamic preparatory drawing. Known for his grand frescoes adorning palaces and churches across Europe, Tiepolo's sketches like this one reveal his virtuoso draftsmanship—fluid pen lines, subtle brown washes, and white heightening over chalk that conjure dramatic light and shadow. Measuring 16⅝ × 11 inches, this intimate work captures a group of soldiers gathered around a towering monument, evoking themes of commemoration, valor, and classical grandeur typical of 18th-century Ve...
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...