Maria met de heiligen Antonius en Joris 1743 - 1747

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo made this pen and brown ink drawing, Maria met de heiligen Antonius en Joris, sometime in the eighteenth century. As the son of the famous Venetian painter, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Domenico operated within his father's workshop, which functioned much like a family business. Looking at this drawing, we can see the way Domenico adopts the artistic style that made his father famous. The subject matter and the composition are derived from the grand religious paintings that were so popular in Venice at the time, and that were commissioned by powerful institutions such as the church. The religious references would have been immediately recognizable to contemporary audiences. While Domenico was a skilled artist in his own right, his career was always shaped by his father's influence and reputation. By studying works like this, and doing further research in the archives of these workshops, we can learn more about the social and economic conditions that shaped artistic production in 18th-century Venice.