Youth in Clerical Robes and Other Studies 1696 - 1770

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo created this ink wash drawing, “Youth in Clerical Robes and Other Studies,” during the height of the Venetian Republic. Tiepolo gives us a glimpse into the social structures of his time by depicting a young person in clerical robes, set among a flurry of other sketches. Religious institutions often provided avenues for social mobility, yet access was frequently shaped by class and gender. What choices were available for young people at the time? Were they limited? The sketch-like quality heightens the sense of an intimate observation, inviting us to ponder the lives and roles of individuals within the 18th-century religious hierarchy. Tiepolo likely created this work as a study for a larger composition. One can imagine the artist using this work to think through the performative aspects of religious identity, quietly capturing the intersection of personal identity and institutional role.