Frescoes in the Royal Palace in Madrid (1762-66)
by Giovanni Battista TIEPOLO

Tiepolo and his sons arrived in Madrid on 4 June 1762. In spite of his advanced age, he was extremely productive in the remaining eight years of his life, creating an impressive number of large frescos and altarpieces in Madrid. He appears to have been very well aware of the fact that the time for his art, in which he portrayed triumphal apotheoses and the glorification of the virtues of his clients by means of illusionistic settings, was well and truly over. Tiepolo was one of the few European painters still working on a monumental scale and able to realize extensive interior decorations. King Charles III of Spain had thus made the right choice in commissioning this artist to decorate the Throne Room of the Royal Palace in Madrid, only recently built to designs by Filippo Juvarra (1676-1736) by his pupil Sacchetti (died 1764).

Tiepolo had already completed the oil sketch for the ceiling fresco in the Throne Room, The Glory of Spain, in Venice. The subject portrayed is the glorification of the Spanish nation, which in the course of the 16th and 17th centuries had developed into one of the leading European powers, politically, geographically and culturally. The compositional scheme of the ceiling fresco in the Throne Room is a brilliant synthesis of decorative elements from Tiepolo's earlier works, such as those in the Residence in Würzburg and the Villa Pisani in Stra. Tiepolo reproduces his previous work in a new setting without compromising the original character of the fresco or giving the impression of its being a copy. In spite of the complex structure of the numerous figural elements and the intricate meaning of its content, and thanks to the largely empty expanse of sky, the fresco appears to be one of the airiest Tiepolo ever created.

Work on the Throne Room was completed in 1764. The King was pleased with the result and asked Tiepolo to carry out further decorative work within the palace. The painting of a ceiling fresco in the Guard Room followed. In the Queen's antechamber, a small room adjoining the Throne Room, Tiepolo created the ceiling fresco The Apotheosis of the Spanish Monarchy.

Preview Picture Data Info
Glory of Spain (detail)
1762-66
Fresco, 2700 x 1000 cm
Throne Room, Palacio Real, Madrid


Glory of Spain (detail)
1762-66
Fresco, 2700 x 1000 cm
Throne Room, Palacio Real, Madrid


Glory of Spain (detail)
1762-66
Fresco, 2700 x 1000 cm
Throne Room, Palacio Real, Madrid


The Apotheosis of the Spanish Monarchy
1762-66
Fresco, 1500 x 900 cm
Queen's Antechamber, Palacio Real, Madrid


Venus and Vulcan
1762-66
Fresco
Halberdiers' Room, Palacio Real, Madrid



Summary of works by Giovanni Battista TIEPOLO
Great fresco decorations
Patriarchal Palace, Udine (1726)
Villa Loschi, Biron di Monteviale (1734) | Palazzo Labia, Venice (1746-47)
Residenz, Würzburg (1751-53) | Villa Valmarana, Vicenza (1757)
Royal Palace, Madrid (1762-66)
Various paintings and decorations
up to 1740 | 1740s | 1751-70



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