Two Men seated under a Tree

Artist: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696 - 1770)

Original Dimensions: 62 1/2" x 20 7/8"

Location: National Gallery of Art, London

About Artwork: (About 1740-6) "Two men in turbans are seated under a tree that provides little shade. One has his back to us; the other, who wears his clothing in elaborate layers, has a bushy moustache that gives him extra character. He rests his right arm on a jar and looks across the scene, though his eyes are hidden by his headgear. Depictions of people in Eastern Mediterranean dress were very popular during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially in prints. We know that Giovanni Battista Tiepolo studied and owned several similar prints by seventeenth-century artists such as Rembrandt and Benedetto Castiglione. This is one of four decorative paintings commissioned from Tiepolo for a room in the Palazzo Cornaro on the Campo San Polo, Venice. The others – Seated Man, Woman with Jar, and Boy, Two Standing Figures and Rinaldo turning in Shame from the Magic Shield – are also in the National Gallery’s collection. All four scenes are inspired by the popular sixteenth-century epic poem Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso." - (National Gallery of Art, London)