A Female Allegorical Figure

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

ca. 1740–50 · Oil on canvas, gold ground · European Paintings

Against a reflective gold-leaf ground, Tiepolo depicts an unknown allegorical figure in a monochrome palette that mimics plaster or stone. The painting above was originally part of a complex decorative scheme, possibly the Sala degli Specchi (Room of Mirrors) in the Palazzo Cornaro, Venice, and comes from a series of four works representing female allegorical figures, two of which are in The Met and two in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Artist

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Date

ca. 1740–50

Medium

Oil on canvas, gold ground

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1984