EXHIBITION AT THE SACKLER CELEBRATES 300TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTHOF GIAMBATTISTA TIEPOLO

Released September 9, 1996

The special exhibition Tiepolo and His Circle: Drawings in American Collections will be on display at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts from October 12 through December 15, 1996. The exhibition celebrates the 300th anniversary of the birth of Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770), the greatest Italian artist of the eighteenth century and one of the most brilliant draftsmen of the European tradition. The exhibition is co-organized by the Harvard University Art Museums and The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. The guest curator is Dr. Bernard Aikema, professor of art history, Katholieke Universiteit, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, who is also the author of the fully-illustrated exhibition catalogue. The exhibition will be shown at The Pierpont Morgan Library from January 17 through April 13, 1997. Tiepolo and His Circle is organized at the Harvard University Art Museums by William W. Robinson, Ian Woodner Curator of Drawings. Comprising more than one-hundred works from thirteen institutions and several private collections in the United States, Tiepolo and His Circle will first and foremost present a survey of Tiepolo's drawings, in all their astonishing diversity of style and function. In addition, the selection aims to illuminate four major themes of Tiepolo's career, and the catalogue and installation will be organized around these issues.

The first section, In Search of a Style: Early Drawings, 1715-35 will examine Tiepolo's early work. It will feature some thirty drawings by Tiepolo himself as well as sheets by artists such as Sebastiano Ricci and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, whose style exercised a formative influence on Tiepolo's development.

Saints, Heroes, and Heavenly Visions: Pen-and-Wash Drawings, 1735-70 will address the role of drawing in the genesis of the great decorative fresco cycles and altarpieces from c. 1735/40 to the end of Tiepolo's career. Included in this section will be an important oil sketch for a ceiling in Palazzo Clerici, Milan, borrowed from the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, which will help demonstrate the
interrelationship of drawings and the painted modello in Tiepolo's creative process.

The relatively small third group, Punchinellos, Caricatures, Landscapes, and Other Fantasies:
Pen-and-Wash Drawings, 1735-62, will consist of drawings made as independent works, such as landscapes and caricatures, and Chalk Drawings and the Later Workshop, 1740-70 will investigate the problems of function and attribution presented by the later chalk drawings and other sheets that originated in Tiepolo's large, active workshop. Key works by Giambattista's sons Domenico and Lorenzo will be included, as will examples by his other assistants and close followers.

The exhibition and catalogue have been supported by gifts and grants from Dr. Alfred Bader, Lois and Georges de Menil through The DM Foundation, The Fifth Floor Foundation, The Jeffrey Horvitz Foundation, John and Beverly Jacoby, Samuel H. Kress Foundation, Steve Martin, Anne and Martin Peretz, The John M.Rosenfield Teaching Exhibition Fund, The John Mark Rudkin Charitable Foundation, The Edward Austin Waters Exhibitions and Special Projects Fund, and The Malcolm Hewitt Wiener Foundation. RELATED EVENTS

LECTURE
Thursday, October 17
Sackler lecture hall, 6:00 p.m., free admission
Tiepolo and Invention
Keith Christiansen, Jayne Wrightsman Curator, Department of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Complimentary parking is available at the Broadway Garage on Felton Street, between Cambridge Street and
Broadway.

GALLERY TALKS
Gallery talks are free with the price of admission.

Saturday, October 19
with Bernard Aikema, guest curator, professor of art history, Katholieke Universiteit, Nijmegen. Sackler, 11:30 a.m.

Saturday, November 23
with Edward Saywell, Lynn and Philip A. Straus Intern, Drawing Department. Sackler, 11:30 a.m.

CONCERT
Sunday, November 10
Fogg, 5:30 p.m.
Pianist Sergey Schepkin will perform Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations. A native of St. Petersburg, Schepkin has performed throughout the world. Fogg, 5:30 p.m. Concert admission is $5; $4 forstudents and senior citizens. Doors will open one-half hour before the concert begins. Call (617) 495-4544 for more information.