Lorenzo Tiepolo

LORENZO TIEPOLO (Venice, 1736-Madrid, 1776).
"Oriental man".
Pastel on paper.
Work reproduced in the catalog of the Extraordinary Exhibition of Painting. Centuries XV to XX, held at the Velázquez Gallery, 1972, p. 64.
Presents restorations.
Provenance: Velázquez Gallery.
Measurements: 60 x 48 cm; 75 x 64 cm (frame).
Made in pastel on paper, the portrait shows a subtle and vaporous execution, in which the barely perceptible drawing is subordinated to the atmospheric construction of the figure by means of soft tonal gradations. The pastel technique, particularly appreciated in the 18th century for its immediacy and ability to reproduce the epidermal and luminous qualities, finds an extraordinarily elegant use here. The surface seems to be constructed through transparencies and light touches of color that give the character an almost ethereal presence. In this sense, the influence of Rosalba Carriera is evident. Lorenzo must necessarily have known the work of the famous Venetian pastelist, whose rococo sensibility, chromatic delicacy and psychological refinement are echoed in this composition.
Lorenzo Tiepolo's life trajectory explains to a great extent the wealth of influences present in his production. The youngest son of Giambattista Tiepolo, he was born in Venice in 1736 and was formed within the family artistic environment. In 1750 he accompanied his father and his brother Giandomenico to Würzburg, where he collaborated on the monumental decorative program of the Residenz, one of the great European fresco enterprises of the 18th century. After returning to Venice in 1753, Lorenzo began to develop a more personal language, particularly visible in small-format works and pastel portraits. In 1762 he traveled with his family to Madrid, called by the court of Charles III to participate in the decoration of the Royal Palace. There he actively collaborated in the works of the Throne Room and received his own commissions, among them portraits of the Prince of Asturias and the Infante Don Gabriel, as well as decorations for different palace cabinets.
In his portraits, Lorenzo shows a different sensibility from the scenographic grandiloquence of his father. In contrast to the theatrical dynamism and monumentality of the great Venetian decorator, Lorenzo develops a more intimate and refined language, based on the subtlety of color and a delicate observation of the model. His figures possess a certain elegant melancholy, constructed by means of diffuse contours, powdered tonalities and a soft illumination that partially dissolves the corporeality of the characters. This interest in grace, atmosphere and psychological sensitivity places his work in a fully rococo sphere, although already close to the restraint and pre-Romantic sensitivity that would begin to prevail in the final decades of the eighteenth century.