G iandomenico T iepolo
Venice 1727 - Venice 1804
17. A group of running hounds
Dateable after 1770
Pen, black ink and grey wash
243 x 182 mm
Signed lower right: Dom. Tiepolo f.
This is part of a large group of drawings representing dogs. Dateable after Domenico’s return from Spain, 1770.
Byam Shaw considered most of the animal drawings to be preliminary ideas for the fresco decorations of the
family villa at Zianigo, near Venice, began in 1749 and continued until 1793. Unfortunately none of the frescoes
with dogs have survived but documentation about the decoration of the villa mentions “Quattro sovrapporte con
cani” in the hall of the ground flor and a fireplace screen was decorated with a standing greyhound 1 .
17.
18. Three hounds in a landscape
Dateable after 1770
Pen, black ink and grey wash
240 x 183 mm
Signed lower right: Dom. Tiepolo f.
This drawing, as the previous one, documents Domenico’s love for the animal world and in particular for dogs.
There are three breeds that appear most frequently in his works: hounds, whippets and spaniels. According to
Gealt 1996 1 Domenico gave dogs different hidden meanings, depending on subject and situation. So a whippet
becomes the silent witness in many works in the New Testament series, hounds appear in most of the Pulcinella
drawings and spaniels are often to be seen next to the young women in the series of Scenes of Contemporary Life.
( GG )
18.