Giovanni Battista Tiepolo – artist

 Painter’s decorative work can be seen all over Venice

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: self-portrait

Painter and print maker Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was born on this day in 1696 in Venice.

Also sometimes known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo, his output was prolific and he enjoyed success not only in Italy, but in Germany and Spain as well.

Highly regarded right from the beginning of his career, he has been described by experts as the greatest decorative artist of 18th century Europe. Although much of his work was painted directly on to the walls and ceilings of churches and palaces in his native Venice, many of Tiepolo’s paintings on canvas are now in art galleries all over the world.

Tiepolo was the youngest child of a Venetian shipping merchant who died a year after his birth leaving his mother to struggle to bring up her six children alone.

In 1710 he became a pupil of Gregorio Lazzarini, a successful established painter, but Tiepolo quickly developed a style of his own.

His earliest known works are depictions of the apostles, which form part of the decoration of the interior of the Church of Santa Maria dei Derelitti at Ospedaletto in Venice , painted in 1717.

The Church of Santa Maria dei
Derelitti in Venice, where can be
found Tiepolo's earliest work

Tiepolo was commissioned to produce portraits for the Doge and he started painting frescoes directly on to the walls of churches in 1717.

In 1719 Tiepolo married Maria Cecilia Guardi, the sister of painters Francesco Guardi and Giovanni Antonio Guardi and they had nine children. Two of his sons, Domenico and Lorenzo, eventually painted with him as assistants.

Tiepolo was commissioned to produce paintings for many churches in Venice but also for the interiors of palaces in Milan and for the Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo.

At the request of a German prince, Tiepolo travelled to Wurzburg in 1750 to produce ceiling paintings for his palace.

He returned to Venice where he continued to produce paintings for churches and palaces until in 1761 he was invited to Madrid by King Charles III to create a ceiling fresco for the throne room of the Royal Palace. He fulfilled other commissions in Madrid, although he had to put up with jealousy from the other artists working for the king at the time. Tiepolo died in Madrid in 1770.

The meeting of Anthony and
Cleopatra, depicted by Tiepolo,
can be found in Palazzo Labia

Travel tip:

Palazzo Labia in Fondamenta Labia in Venice has frescoes in the ballroom depicting the life of Cleopatra, painted by Tiepolo between 1745 and 1750. The prestigious palace is on the wide Cannaregio Canal , close to its junction with the Grand Canal , but the entrance to it is off Campo San Geremia. The palace sometimes holds free classical concerts in the magnificently decorated ballroom, or visitors can arrange to see the frescoes by appointment.

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Travel tip:

The Church of the Gesuati in Fondamenta delle Zattere in Venice has a ceiling frescoed by Tiepolo with scenes from The Life of St Dominic. The impressive work of art, painted between 1737 and 1739, demonstrates the artist’s amazing mastery of light and colour.

More reading:

Francesco Guardi, one of the last great artists of the Venetian school

Titian, the old master of Venice who set new standards

The boundless energy of Tintoretto

Also on this day:

1827: The death of scientist Alessandro Volta

1834: The birth of 19th century opera star Marietta Piccolomini

1922: The birth of writer and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini

Selected books:

Tiepolo, by Renzo Villa Giovanni

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Antonio Vivaldi – Baroque composer

The success and the sadness in the life of musical priest 

A portrait of Antonio Vivaldi painted by an
anonymous artist in around 1723

Violinist, teacher, composer and cleric Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born on this day in Venice in 1678.

Widely recognised as one of the greatest Baroque composers, he had an enormous influence on music throughout Europe during his own lifetime.

His best-known work is a series of beautiful violin concertos called The Four Seasons.

Vivaldi was a prolific composer who enjoyed a lot of success when his career was at its height.

As well as instrumental concertos he composed many sacred choral works and more than 40 operas.

Vivaldi’s father taught him to play the violin when he was very young and he became a brilliant performer. At the age of 15 he began studying to be a priest and he was ordained at the age of 25. He soon became nicknamed ‘Il Prete Rosso’, the red priest, because of his red hair.

He became master of violin at the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage in Venice, and composed most of his works while working there during the next 30 years.

The orphaned girls received a musical education and the most talented pupils stayed on to become members of the Ospedale’s orchestra or choir. Vivaldi wrote concertos, cantatas and sacred vocal music for them to perform.

Listen to Vivaldi's 'Summer' concerto from The Four Seasons, performed by the Italian chamber orchestra I Musici

His first opera was produced in Vicenza in 1713 and he was invited to Mantua to be director of music for the city’s governor in 1718.

At the height of his career, Vivaldi received commissions from European nobility and royalty. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI he moved to Vienna with the intention of staging some of his operas there. But Charles VI died shortly after his arrival, leaving the composer with no income or royal protection.

Vivaldi became impoverished and died in 1741 following an infection. He was given the equivalent of a pauper’s funeral in Vienna.

The Church of La Pietà. Photo:
Didier Descouens (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Travel tip:

Vivaldi was baptised by the midwife immediately after his birth at his family’s home in the Castello district of Venice. His official church baptism took place two months later at the simple Gothic-style Church of San Giovanni Battista in Bragora in Campo Bandiera e Moro in Castello.

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Travel tip:

The Church of La Pietà, or Santa Maria della Visitazione, on Riva degli Schiavoni facing the lagoon, dates back to the 15th century. It started its life as a foundling home for orphans. From 1703 till 1740 Vivaldi directed the Pietà’s musical groups and composed music for the orchestra and choir. The church is now a regular venue for concerts featuring Vivaldi’s music. 

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More reading:

How Giovanni Gabrieli inspired the spread of the Baroque music style

Tomaso Albinoni, Venetian who composed a famously haunting adagio

Francesco Gasparini, the musical director who took Vivaldi on at the Ospedale della Pietà

Also on this day:

1848: The first Italian Constitution is agreed

1943: The birth of singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla

Selected books:

The Vivaldi Compendium, by Michael Talbot

Vivaldi: Red Priest of Venice, by Susan Adams


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Teatro Olimpico – Vicenza

Renaissance theatre still stages plays and concerts

The remarkable stage set at the Teatro Olimpico
made use of perspective to create a sense of realism

The Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza , originally designed by Andrea Palladio, was inaugurated on this day in 1585.

A performance of ‘Oedipus the King’ by Sophocles was given for its opening and the original scenery, which was meant to represent the streets of Thebes, has miraculously survived to this day.

The theatre was the last piece of architecture designed by Andrea Palladio and it was not completed until after his death.

The Teatro Olimpico is one of three Renaissance theatres remaining in existence and since 1994 it has been listed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site.

In 1579 Palladio was asked to produce a design for a permanent theatre in Vicenza and he decided to base it on the designs of Roman theatres he had studied.

After his death, only six months into the project, the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi was called in to complete it.  Scamozzi is credited with fulfilling Palladio's wish to use perspective in the design, creating the impression that the streets visible through the archways stretched into the distance.

The theatre is still used for plays and musical performance, but audiences are limited to 400 for conservation reasons. It was also used as a location for the films Don Giovanni and Casanova.

Andrea Palladio was born in 1508 in Padua but lived for a lot of his life in Vicenza. He was profoundly influenced by Greek and Roman architecture.

All the buildings he designed are in the Veneto area and the city of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto are Unesco World Heritage sites.

Teatro Olimpico is in Piazza Matteotti in Vicenza and is open from 9.00 am to 5 pm Tuesday to Sunday.

The statue of Palladio in Vicenza's Piazza dei
Signori. Photo: Adam W (CC BY 2.0)

Travel tip:

Vicenza has become known as the city of Andrea Palladio and the buildings he designed are all around the city. There is a statue of the great architect close to Piazza dei Signori, the main square. Palazzo del Valmarana and Loggia del Capitaniata are examples of his work that can be seen close to the city centre.

Travel tip:

Perhaps the most famous of Palladio’s works is Villa Rotonda, built between 1550 and 1552 and set in the countryside outside Vicenza. With its regular symmetrical form it is the epitome of Palladian architecture and the most famous of all his villas. The design, a dome on top of a cube, is simple, yet aesthetically satisfying.

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Pope Pius XII

Pope elected on 63rd birthday to lead the church during the war

Pope Pius XII during his time
as nuncio of Bavaria

Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli was elected Pope and took the name of Pius XII on this day in 1939, his 63rd birthday.

A pre-war critic of the Nazis, Pius XII expressed dismay at the invasion of Poland by Germany later that year.

But the Vatican remained officially neutral during the Second World War and Pius XII was later criticised by some people for his perceived silence over the fate of the Jews.

Pope Pius was born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli on March 2, 1876 in Rome.

His family had a history of links with the papacy and he was educated at a school that had formerly been the Collegio Romano, a Jesuit College in Rome.

He went on to study theology and became ordained as a priest.

He was appointed nuncio to Bavaria in 1917 and tried to convey the papal initiative to end the First World War to the German authorities without success. After the war he worked to try to alleviate distress in Germany and to build diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the Soviet Union.

He was made a Cardinal priest in 1929 and elected Pope on March 2, 1939. 

When war broke out again he had to follow the strict Vatican policy of neutrality. It is thought he had genuine affection for Germany but he did not like the criminal hands it had fallen into, and he feared Bolshevism.

He used the modern technology of radio to offer sympathy to the victims of war in his broadcasts and towards the end of the war he appealed to the Allies to be lenient.

His supporters say he had sympathy with the Jews and that he tried to help them along with prisoners of war and people who had gone missing during the conflict. But his critics argue that he was too weak and did little to challenge the Nazis.

Pope Pius XII died in 1958 at his residence in Castel Gandolfo to the south of Rome .

Travel tip:

After Pope Pius XII died in Castel Gandolfo he was brought back to Rome to lie in state surrounded by four Swiss Guards. He was then placed in a coffin and buried beneath St Peter’s Basilica in a simple tomb in a small chapel. The Vatican Grottoes beneath the floor of St Peter’s Basilica house the tombs of many dead Popes, including St Peter himself.

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The papal palace in the centre of Castel Gandolfo
(Photo: Ra Boe)

Travel tip:

Castel Gandolfo, where the Pope has his summer residence, overlooks Lake Albano from its wonderful position in the hills south of Rome. The Pope spends every summer in the Apostolic Palace there. Although his villa lies within the town’s boundaries, it is one of the properties of the Holy See. The palace is not under Italian jurisdiction and is policed by the Swiss Guard. The whole area is part of the regional park of Castelli Romani, which has many places of historic and artistic interest to visit.

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More reading:

Italy enters the Second World War

Angelo Cerica - the general who arrested Mussolini

The Gran Sasso raid: Nazis free captive Mussolini

Also on this day:

1603: The birth of Sicilian painter Pietro Novelli

1886: The birth of double World Cup-winning coach Vittorio Pozzo

Selected reading:

The Other Italy: The Italian Resistance in World War II, by Maria de Blasio Wilhelm

Mussolini and Hitler: The Forging of the Fascist Alliance, by Christian Goeschel


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