id: 160194
accession number: 1998.113
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1998.113
updated: 2023-08-23 23:41:38.167000
Scherzi di Fantasia: Magician Pointing Out a Burning Head to Two Youths, 1750–60. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696–1770). Etching; sheet: 39 x 27.1 cm (15 3/8 x 10 11/16 in.); platemark: 22.6 x 18.5 cm (8 7/8 x 7 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1998.113
title: Scherzi di Fantasia: Magician Pointing Out a Burning Head to Two Youths
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1750–60
creation date earliest: 1745
creation date latest: 1765
current location:
creditline: Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
copyright:
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culture: Italy, 18th century
technique: etching
department: Prints
collection: PR - Etching
type: Print
find spot:
catalogue raisonne: De Vesme 16, Rizzi 7
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CREATORS
* Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696–1770) - artist
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measurements: Sheet: 39 x 27.1 cm (15 3/8 x 10 11/16 in.); Platemark: 22.6 x 18.5 cm (8 7/8 x 7 5/16 in.)
state of the work: I/II
edition of the work:
support materials:
description: laid paper
watermarks:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: From Rembrandt to Rauschenberg: Recently Acquired Prints
opening date: 2000-09-17T00:00:00
From Rembrandt to Rauschenberg: Recently Acquired Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17-November 26, 2000).
title: The Allure of La Serenissima: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Art
opening date: 2010-09-09T00:00:00
The Allure of La Serenissima: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Art. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK (organizer) (September 9, 2010-January 2, 2011).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; September 17 - November 26, 2000. "From Rembrandt to Rauschenberg: Recently Acquired Prints."
Oklahoma City Museum of Art (9/9/2010 - 1/2/2011): "The Allure of La Serenissima: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Art", cat. no. 65, p. 160.
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PROVENANCE
(C.G. Boerner LLC, New York, NY)
date: ?-1998
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: September 8, 1998
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
A scherzo is a musical composition made up of little phrases, with implications of playfulness. Tiepolo's Scherzi are improvised scenes of magicians, philosophers, soldiers, old men in turbans, and shepherds who consult horoscopes, skulls, skeletons, and snakes among altars, ruins, and ancient bas-reliefs. The transitory nature of life, the vanity of human pursuits, and direct confrontation with death, are the recurring themes. The eerie mood of the prints reflect the preoccupation of 18th-century Venice with magic, superstition, and witchcraft. Light was Tiepolo's essential means of expression and the basic element of his style. The sensation of sunlight bathing each scene is an illusion created by the contrast of the nervous, broken lines against white paper. Shade is obliterated; even the darkest areas are transparent as they, too, are created out of light.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1998.113/1998.113_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1998.113/1998.113_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1998.113/1998.113_full.tif