Masters of Art: Tiepolo

The art of Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770) represents a key chapter in the rich history of Venetian painting. Tiepolo first exhibited in his native Venice in 1716; his career ended in Madrid, where he died while employed by the King of Spain. In Venice and Madrid, throughout northern Italy, and in England, France, and Germany, Tiepolo produced paintings for churches, princes, religious orders, and private patrons. He was Italy's most important painter of the eighteenth century, and with Antoine Watteau he stands out as one of the two greatest in Europe before the artistic and intellectual watershed of the French Revolution.