Watermark: three crescents in descending size, over letters "SOTO IMPERIAL" (cf. Heawood 867).
In another of the Scenes of Contemporary Life produced late in his career, Domenico Tiepolo presents an itinerant showman or storyteller with a guitar slung over his shoulder. He expounds upon a painting, drawing, or print mounted on the wall before him, but it is not clear what the picture represents, or what story is being told. The basket alongside him is filled with bits of paper that may be receipts or subscriptions, and he has drawn a crowd that contains both sailors and aristocrats. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"
Signed and dated by the artist in pen and black ink on titulus affixed to column, "Dom.o Tiepol [cut off] / [illegible] / [illegible] / 1791".
Beurdeley, Alfred, 1847-1919, former owner.
Fauchier-Magnan, Adrien, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 376, repr.
Denison, Cara D. et al. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw. Part II. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1985, no. 24.