In this scene from Ludovico Ariosto's epic poem Orlando Furioso, the pagan princess Angelica carves the name of her lover, the young knight Medoro, into the bark of a tree. The artist depicted the subject in a number of drawings and at least one fresco, and various sketches by his son Domenico, also now in the Morgan, are clearly derived from the elder Tiepolo's various interpretations of the theme. This sheet--so finished that it may have been conceived as an independent work of art--is stylistically akin to other drawings of the early to mid-1740s. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"
Watermark: Letters "PA" over trefoil on a stick.
Saxe-Altenburg, Duke of, former owner.
Delacre, Maurice, 1862- 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. 365, repr.
Stampfle, Felice, and Cara D. Denison. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1975, no. 40.