The Frick Collection presented a selection of paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs related to Giambattista Tiepolo’s first significant project outside of Venice, a series of ceiling frescoes for Palazzo Archinto in Milan. The frescoes were painted between 1730 and 1731 and commissioned by Count Carlo Archinto, one of the most prominent patrons and intellectuals in Milan during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Tragically, Palazzo Archinto was bombed during World War II and its interior was completely destroyed.
Tiepolo in Milan included more than fifty objects from collections in the United States and Europe to tell the story of this important commission. Five preparatory works by Tiepolo were featured: three paintings (among them, the Frick’s oil sketch Perseus and Andromeda) and two drawings. Complementary drawings and several books of illustrations by the artist were on view, alongside black-and-white photographs taken between 1897 and the late 1930s, the only surviving records of the finished frescoes in situ.
The exhibition was curated by Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, with Andrea Tomezzoli, Professor at the University of Padua, and Denis Ton, Curator of the Musei Civici in Belluno. A catalogue published by The Frick Collection in association with Paul Holberton Publishing accompanies the show.
Major support for the exhibition was provided by an anonymous gift in memory of Melvin R. Seiden and by Margot and Jerry Bogert. Additional funding was generously provided by the David L. Klein, Jr. Foundation, Julie and David Tobey, an anonymous gift in memory of Charles Ryskamp, Dr. Tai-Heng Cheng and Cole Harrell, Mr. and Mrs. Hubert L. Goldschmidt, and The Krugman Family Foundation.
Giambattista Tiepolo, Perseus and Andromeda, ca. 1730–31. Oil on canvas. The Frick Collection