TIEPOLO, Lorenzo

Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo, Italian painter, son of Giambattista Tiepolo. In 1750, aged 14, he travelled to Würzburg with his father and brother, Giandomenico, where he worked alongside them on the decorative fresco cycle in the Kaisersaal of the Residenz at Würzburg. A number of drawings (Würzburg, Wagner-Museum) has been attributed to him from these apprentice years. In 1753 the family returned to Venice.

In 1762 he left Venice for Madrid to accompany his father who worked for Charles III. In Madrid he executed a portrait of the royal family in 1768. He painted a series of pastel portraits which are now in various royal residences in Madrid and in the Prado Museum. After his father’s death he received a small pension from the Spanish Court.

Lorenzo’s gifts were limited, but the work they did together with their father in creating fresco cycles - in Spain and northern Europe as well as Italy - brought the monumental tradition of Italian art to a glorious end.