Images(6)

The Triumph of Valor over Time

Dateca. 1757

Maker Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Italian, 1696 - 1770

Label TextEnduring fame--the goal of so many figures in history--was the promise of art. The image that crowns the Porcelain Room was originally painted on the ceiling of the Porto family palace designed by Andrea Palladio (1508 - 1580), the great Renaissance architect, in the town of Vicenza. It was commissioned from Tiepolo, the greatest Venetian artist of the eighteenth century, to celebrate the bravery of the Porto family, which was noted for generations of military accomplishments. Tiepolo designed an allegory in which fame crowns the golden-robed figure of Valor with a great laurel wreath, as Time watches helplessly from the shadows below, his scythe overturned. The fresco was removed from the palace in the early part of the twentieth century, transferred to canvas, and sold to a German collector. In 1951 the Kress Foundation bought the fresco; the Foundation had already purchased the sketch for it in 1948. A painting that originally was an integral part of a building thus became a mobile work of art, ending up in Seattle and spreading the fame of the Porto family more widely than they could have ever imagined.

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.

Object number61.170

ProvenanceOriginally 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 CreditPhoto: Nathaniel Willson

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Wash., Seattle Art Museum, Italian Art: Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952. Text by Suida, William and Sherman Lee. Cat. No. 22, pp. 8, 21. Seattle, Wash., Seattle Art Museum, 2500 Years of Italian Art, Nov. 10- Dec. 8 1958. Cat. Fig. 57. Fort Worth, Tex., Kimball Art Museum, Giambattista Tiepolo: Master of the Oil Sketch, Sept. 18-Dec. 12, 1993. Fig. 44, p. 278-80. Published ReferencesFriedlander, M.J. Die Saamlung Dr. Eduard Simon, Berlin. Berlin, Germany: P. Cassirer, H. Helbing, 1929; p. 40 reproduced plts. 12, 13, 14. Suida, William and Richard Fuller. Seattle Art Museum. European Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. Seattle, Wash.: Seattle Art Museum 1954; Cat. p. 78, reproduced p. 79. "Recent Important Acquisitions of American Collections." The Art Quarterly 18, no. 1 (Spring 1955): p. 97, reproduced p. 96. "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, October - December 1961,” The Art Quarterly 25, no. 1 (Spring 1962): p. 84, reproduced p. 87 ill. Morassi, A. A Complete Catalogue of Paintings of G.B. Tiepolo. London, England: Phaidon Press, 1962; pp. 32, 40, 48. Fig. 331. Garberi, Mercedes Precerutti. Frescoes From Venetian Villas. London, England: Phaidon, 1971; pp. 127, 228. Knox, George. “Tiepolo Paintings at Birmingham Ala.” Burlington Magazine 120, no. 900 (March 1978): p. 189. Knox, George. Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo: A Study and “Catalogue Raissoné” of the Chalk Drawings. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1980; p. 323, pl. 316. Ishikawa, Chiyo. The Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Seattle Art Museum. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1997; fig. 38, pp. 59-62. Ishikawa, Chiyo. "Seattle Art Museum." In Italian Treasures in the U.S.: An Itinerary of Art. Edited by Renato Miracco. Rome, Italy: Gangemi Editore International Publishing, 2015; reproduced p. 201.

Credit LineSamuel H. Kress Collection

Dimensions200 x 90in. (508 x 228.6cm) Frame: 129 15/16 x 211 15/16in. (330.1 x 538.3cm)

MediumFresco transferred to canvas