The Battle of Vercellae
Artist: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696–1770)
Original Dimensions: 162" x 148 3/8"
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
About Artwork: (1725–29) "Teutonic or Germanic invaders crossed the Alps into northern Italy, near Venice, around 105 BCE. Tiepolo’s painting represents their defeat by the forces of the Roman Empire under general Marius, who appears in the painting at the center of this gallery. This is one of ten canvases executed for the Venetian palazzo of the Dolfin family, who had been important statesmen and military figures in Venice since the 1600s. This theatrical reimagining of the ancient past, with bloody swords and fallen soldiers, proclaims the integrity of an Italian homeland. Tiepolo’s paintings originally were installed below a ceiling painting by Niccolò Bambini depicting the glorification of Venice attended by the Dolfin family." - (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

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