Kárpáti Zoltán - Liptay Éva - Varga Ágota szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 101. (Budapest, 2004)

ANNUAL REPORT 2004 - A 2004. ÉV - TEMPORARY EXEIIBITIONS - IDŐSZAKI KIÁLLÍTÁSOK - ANDREA CZÉRE: Capriccio in Time and Space: On the Bicentenary of Giandomenico Tiepolo's Death

was soon renowned as a specialist of grisailles: four such works by him dealing mainly with the subject of love could be seen in the exhibition. Arranged like antique friezes, these scenes accorded with the new classical taste, which was inspired by the excavation and publication of reliefs from classical antiquity. Autonomous drawings and prints play an important role in Giandomenico's œuvre. Also, he made etchings after his own paintings and those of his father, in order to acquaint a wider public with them. His most famous works of graphic art are his three monumental series of etchings: the Stations of the Cross (1749), the Flight into Egypt (1753) and the Series of Heads (1774). The first two are complete in the Museum's collection, but the third is not; ten pieces of the latter were shown in the exhibition. Capriccio (caprice), combining features of imaginary and real elements, became very popular in the eighteenth century, and Giandomenico was one of its finest representatives; it was the key to the whole exhibition. His chef-d'œuvre is the Flight into Egypt, in which he represents, in twenty-four variegated compositions, the journey of the Holy Family using new artistic methods and with a delight in detail unprecedented in art history. The pieces of this series are like snapshots of the events, bringing the story to the viewer in the manner of a play and accentuating the figures by means of daring light effects. It is for the sharply contrasted light and shade patches on his prints that posterity has come to regard him as a forerunner of Francisco Goya. He is famous for his capricious and startling aesthetic nodes stressed by way of dark hues, and for the sensuous depiction of luxurious fabrics through a rich texture of irregular lines. It is this that sets his pieces apart from those by his father, a few of whose etchings were displayed at the exhibition for purposes of comparison. The Giandomenico Tiepolo drawings and paintings currently preserved at the Museum were acquired by the institution in the twentieth century, through the efforts of its curators. On the other hand, the Museum's etchings by the artist derive from the Esterházy Collection, purchased by the Hungarian state in 1870. One of the paintings in the exhibition hall was on loan from a private collection. Five paintings and an etching had been recently restored. The installation designed and built for this purpose enabled the consistent groups and series of etchings to be displayed separately. The lengthier inscriptions and texts provided for each of the series were motivated by the increasing demand for ampler information in museums all around the world. The catalogue with Hungarian and English text contains an introductory essay presenting Giandomenico's career and the characterictics of his art. It is followed by the complete list of the exhibited works; the entire book is enriched with fifty-nine illustrations. ANDREA CZÉRE