Narcisse Tordoir – The Pink Spy
(c)image: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
1741 - 1745
Giambattista Tiepolo is considered as the last Venetian painter of the Rococo. He flooded the aristocracy with paintings of high quality in bright colors. In grandiose, theatrical settings, he provided decoration commissioned by clerics and noblemen for their churches and palaces. But if one looks beyond the technically virtuoso aspects of his painting, we recognize how acute, how ironic and mocking Tiepolo could be vis-à-vis his patrons: an element well seen in the series 'Capricci' and 'Scherzi di fantasia', present in the exhibition. These engravings bubble with irony, transmitted to us here via curious, theatrical creatures.