Domenico Tiepolo
(Italy 1727–1804)
- Title
- The lion's cage
- Other titles:
- Punchinello at the zoo
- Year
- circa 1800
- Media category
- Drawing
- Materials used
- pen and brown ink, brown wash over black chalk underdrawing
- Dimensions
-
35.3 x 46.8cm sheet; 52.0 x 63.0 x 2.5cm frame
- Signature & date
- Signed c.r. [on banner], ink "Dom Tiepolo". Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of James Fairfax AO 1993
- Accession number
- 486.1993
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
This sheet belongs to the famous set of 104 drawings devoted to the life and times of Punchinello, the popular Neapolitan character of the 'commedia dell'arte'. Punchinello is the hunch-backed, pot-bellied figure with a beaky mask who wears a baggy white tunic and a sugar-loaf hat.
The series, which Domenico drew towards the very end of his life at around the turn of the 19th century, was conceived with a title page 'Divertimento per li regazzi' (An entertainment for children). Regarded as Domenico's greatest achievement as a draughtsman, the set was unknown until it appeared at a Sotheby's auction in 1920. It remained intact for only a brief time before the drawings were resold in Paris in 1921 and then scattered throughout the museums and private collections of the world.
This sheet is one of a sequence of six on the theme of Punchinello at the circus, all of which feature the same backdrop of a fence made of rough planks. It shows a group of Punchinellos listening to the lion keeper as he shows off the animal in his charge. The audience also includes two ladies together with a small pet dog, who approaches with caution.
Domenico had already treated the subject of Punchinello in the frescoes of the Tiepolo family's villa at Zianigo, which he painted 1793-97 (now Palazzo Rezzonico, Venice). This sheet was adapted from one of his earlier scenes of contemporary Venetian life which represents two clerics and five gentlemen, and a rather less daunted child ('The Lion's Cage' 1791, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa).
- Bibliography (8)
-
Richard Beresford (England; Australia) (Author), Peter Raissis (Australia) (Author), The James Fairfax collection of old master paintings, drawings and prints, Domain, 2003, 192 (colour illus.). cat.no. 56
Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, Sydney, 1994, 122 (colour illus.).
Art Gallery of New South Wales Annual Report 1994 1994, 1994, 44.
Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874) (Author), Great gifts, great patrons: an exhibition celebrating private patronage of the Gallery, Sydney, 1994. no catalogue numbers
Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874) (Author), The James Fairfax collection of old masters, Domain, 1992. no catalogue numbers
Adelheid Gealt, Domenico Tiepolo: the Punchinello drawings, New York, 1986, 183. no. 84
Indiana University Art Museum (United States of America), Domenico Tiepolo's Punchinello drawings, 1979, 134. cat.no. S55
Philip Wilson, Alison Brand, Art at auction, London, 1967, 110, 111 (illus.).
- Exhibition history (6)
-
Unknown exhibition, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1921–1921.
Domenico Tiepolo's Punchinello drawings, Indiana University Art Museum, 1979–1979.
The James Fairfax collection of old masters, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 25 Apr 1992–14 Jun 1992.
Great gifts, great patrons, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 17 Aug 1994–19 Oct 1994.
The James Fairfax collection of old master paintings, drawings and prints, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 17 Apr 2003–20 Jul 2003.
Old Europe: Prints & drawings from the collection 1500-1800, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 03 Jun 2006–06 Aug 2006.
