A Dance in the Country painting reflects a distancing of Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo away from the techniques learned under the apprenticeship of his famous artist father, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, according to some art historians. The distinguishing elements of colorful, lively portrayals of the common people versus the somber, delicate portrayal of heavenly scenes or wealthy notability as characteristics of his father's paintings. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's art, (frescos and canvases) decorated on a grand scale both churches, places, and villas across Europe. Whereas Domenico's canvas paintings reflect the carefree, happy living of ordinary people of Venice in the sunny countryside versus interior scenes. Was the shift in style and technique as seen in the A Dance in the Country painting a permanent redirecting of Domenico's work or did the techniques and styles learned from his father remain present in his work throughout his artist career? Are Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's unique styles, techniques, and applied colors, used during Domenico's apprenticeship, identifiable in Domenico's artwork from an early age of thirteen to his late seventies? What techniques did Domenico use to distinguish himself as an artist? Were the departures from his father's influences, if any, more present in his work after his father's death in 1770? Or were learned techniques from his father always present in Domenico's artworks, yet used to express and communicate and different story?
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, Joseph and Mary Seeking Shelter, Plate Five in The Flight into Egypt, 1753, Etching on paper, 1941, 1220, Art Institute of Chicago.
As an apprentice of his Father, Domenico made reproductions of his father's major altarpiece and fresco commissions to be sold in the Venetian print market (for the family business' financial and promotional gain). In The Flight into Egypt series (twenty-seven etchings completed over two years), Domenico departed from mass reproduction method to creating a series of one subject without repeating himself. The series allowed Domenico's unique personal and tender character of his art to be reflected while at the same time reflecting etching and printing skills learned under his father.
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, John the Baptist Preaching, 1732-1733, Fresco, Cappella Colleoni, Bergamo, Italy.
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo is one of the greatest painter of the eighteenth-century Europe, especially on a grand scale with his fresco paintings on church ceilings and in villas. The fresco paintings brought to life ancient history, myths, and Scriptures for others to enter the story through his art and their imagination. His style was ornamental and crowded, yet at the same time through pastels colors and grand scale, he produced work that had movement, was visually airy and light. The fresco of John the Baptist Preaching is reflective of techniques found in Domenico's artwork.
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, Venetian Peasants on a Hot Simmer Day, 1757, Fresco, Villa Val Marana ai Nani in Vicenza, Italy.
Domenico assisted his father with his fresco commissions across Europe. The commissioned frescos as the Villa Val Marana ai Nani presented another opportunity for Domenico to distinguished himself form his fathers's art. His father painted frescos in the main house of epic poetry (i.e., Homer, Ariosto, Virgil) and Domenico was given freedom to choose scenes from living in the country, such as the above of a family eating dinner. These frescos reflected common and intimate portrayals that differed from his father's grand frescos, however due to his lack of notability, his father was initially accredited for his frescos.
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, A Dance in the Country, 1755, Oil on canvas, 1980.67, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Without the credit of the Villa Val Marana guesthouse fresco identified as natural and common, Domenico returned to canvas medium to continue portraying Venetian country life. A Dance in the Country is recognized as another turning point in his career outside of his father's shadow. Even though he used techniques learned from assisting his father, light blue skies, crowds with bold colored-costumes, and movement, he reflected something new, realistically depicted ordinary people celebrating, conveying wit and pleasure enjoyed by the common person, in his art.
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, The Departure of the Gondola, mid-1760s, Oil on canvas, 2019.141.20, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Departure of the Gondola painting was printed during a trip with his father to Madrid who was painting fresco ceilings in the Palacio Real (royal palace). This painting captures the life from Venice with the gondolas. However, it is a departure from Domenico's country life to the refined Venetian lifestyles (white masks with short black veils) during carnival season. This work reflects life enjoyed (pleasure). His use of pastel colors and delicate strokes continues to show his dad's influence from working and traveling with him.
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, The Country Dance from Divertimento per Ii regazzi (Diversion for Young Boys), 1797, Pen and ink with brush and wash over black chalk, 57.239, Rhode Island School of Design Museum.
Later in life, Domenico returned to his Zianigo villa to create art for his own enjoyment. During this time, the series were whimsical in subject and the drawings were in pen and ink with sepia washes, however, he continued to create light and movement. In his canvas celebration paintings of country life, he often included Punchinello, and yet in these series Punchinello was often the subject. In the above drawing, there are multiple coned-hatted Punchinello characters in the middle of the merriment. This whimsical character's dominance was a departure from his father's serious subjects, yet the pen and ink reflect his apprenticeship under his father.
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, The Flogging of Punchinello, 1800's, Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black chalk, 1974.1.467, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
At the end of Domenico's career, he continued making the commedia dell'arte character Punchinello front and present in common day events of Venice. Domenico gave Venetians a character displaying common occurrences (both favorable, entertaining and others satirical of Venice). The latter drawings of Punchinello grew in somberness as depicted as flogged in this drawing. Eventually, he depicted Punchinello's burial, a symbol of the Venetian Republic's end. Again, these drawings reflect his father's somberness versus jovialness, but the symbolism reflect Domenico unique message communicated through his art.
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