The Triumph of Valor over Time
ca. 1757
Enduring fame—the goal of so many figures in history—was the promise of art. This fresco was originally painted on the ceiling of the Porto family palace, in the town of Vicenza, Italy, to celebrate the bravery of the Porto family, which was noted for generations of military accomplishments. Orazio Porto commissioned Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, the greatest Venetian artist of the eighteenth century, to design and execute the painting. The artist first made a fluid oil sketch to show to his patron before he commenced work on the ceiling. Tiepolo's design is an allegory in which Victory crowns the golden-robed figure of Valor with a laurel wreath, as Time watches helplessly from the shadows below, his scythe overturned.
Fresco transferred to canvas
200 x 90in. (508 x 228.6cm)
Frame: 129 15/16 x 211 15/16in. (330.1 x 538.3cm)
Samuel H. Kress Collection
61.170
Provenance: Originally commissioned by the Porto Family for the Palazzo Porto, Vicenza, 1757 until removed from palazzo ca. 1900; purchased by Dr. Eduard Simon (1864-1929), Berlin, 1910-1929; [Eduard Simon collection sale, Paul Cassirer’s, Berlin, October 10-11, 1929, no. 12 of catalogue by M.J. Friedlander, as Giovanni Battista Tiepolo)]; [A.S. Drey, Munich]; [Paul Drey, New York]; [French and Co., New York]; purchased by Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York, November 23, 1951; Seattle Art Museum, since 1952, accessioned 1961
Photo: Nathaniel Willson