This amusing composition is one of a large group of finished independent drawings representing scenes of contemporary life that are certainly Domenico's most considerable achievement as a draughtsman. These genre scenes are all of the same large horizontal format, and the date 1791 appears on at least twenty of them. Two of the Met's acrobats, the actress holding a fan, and several of the spectators behind the barricade reappear in "Pulcinella e i saltimbanchi", one of Domenico's frescoes from the Villa Tiepolo at Zianigo, now in the Ca' Rezzonico, Venice. As Byam Shaw stated in 1962: "The drawing though not dated [or signed], is almost certainly of 1791, the fresco probably of 1793. The pentimenti in the legs of the men turning somersaults seem to confirm that the drawing is earlier and was probably used for the painting."
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Medium:Pen and dark brown ink, brush and brown wash, over traces of black chalk
Dimensions:11-7/16 x 16-1/4 in. (29 x 41.3 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1968
Object Number:68.54.4
Marking: Unidentified collector's mark stamped in red at lower right on verso.
Alfred Beurdeley II (French), Paris, according to Byam Shaw; M. Fauchier-Magnan(according to Byam Shaw); Palais Galliéra- Succession D... sale, June 27, 1967, no. 161The accession card notes June 12, 1967, as the date of the "Succession D..., dessins et tableaux anciens"- sale. Lot 161 (repr.) sold in set of 4: lots 159 (Le Montreur d'Images), 160 (Spectateurs à la fête forain), 161 (Les Acrobates), 162 (La Cage aux Lions).; Cailleux (French); P. & D. Colnaghi & Co.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings from New York Collections: Eighteenth Century in Italy," January 30–March 21, 1971.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "18th Century Italian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 18–December 9, 1990.
Palazzo Reale, Milan. "Il Gran Teatro del Mondo: L'anima e il volto del Settecento," October 30, 2003–January 30, 2004.
Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice. "Tiepolo: Ironia e Comico," September 3, 2004–December 5, 2004.
James Byam Shaw The Drawings of Domenico Tiepolo.. London and Boston, 1962, cat. no. 65, fig. no. 65, pp. 48, 86-87, ill.
Jacob Bean, John J. McKendry "A Fortunate Year." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. New Series, 27, no. 6, February 1969, p. 318., ill.
Jacob Bean "Ninety-ninth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year 1968-1969, Reports of the Departments: Drawings." in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, n.s. vol. 28, no. 2, New York, October 1969, p. 67.
Jacob Bean, Felice Stampfle Drawings from New York Collections, vol. III: Eighteenth Century Italian Drawings. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 1971, cat. no. 263, p. 105, ill.
James Byam Shaw "The Biron Collection of Venetian Eighteenth-Century Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Metropolitan Museum Journal. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 3, New York, 1971, p. 246, note 23.
Jean Cailleux "L'Art du Dix-huitième Siècle" An Advertisement Supplement to The Burlington Magazine. vol. 116, London, 1974, cat. no. 94, p. 27.
I Tiepolo: Virtuosismo e ironia. Exh. cat., Mirano (Venice), Barchessa Villa, April 25, 1988. Edited by Dario Succi, Turin, 1988, p. 300, ill.
Jacob Bean, William M. Griswold 18th Century Italian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990, cat. no. 263, fig. no. 263, p. 264, ill.
The Drawing Society "Review: 18th Century Italian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." in Drawings. vol. 12, no. 3, New York, September-October, 1990, fig. no. p. 61, p. 61, ill.
The Glory of Venice. Art in the Eighteenth Century. Exh. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art; London, Royal Academy. edited by Jane Martineau, Edited by Andrew Robison, London, 1994, cat. no. no. 229, fig. no. fig. 229, p. 333, ill.
George Knox, Adelheid M. Gealt Giandomenico Tiepolo. Disegni dal mondo Exh. cat., Udine, Italy, Castello di Udine, September 14 - December 31, 1996. Milan, 1996, cat. no. 32, p. 241.
Linda Wolk-Simon "Domenico Tiepolo. Drawings, Prints, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 54, no. 3, New York, Winter 1996-1997, fig. no. 93, p. 59, ill.
Flavio Caroli Il Gran Teatro del Mondo: L'Anima e il Volto del Settecento. Exh cat., Palazzo Reale, Milan. Milan, 2003, (entry by Daniele Ferrara), cat. no. II.107, pp. 496-97, ill.
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