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Aufgeklärte Blicke. Inszenierte Bildvergleiche mit Veronese bei Ricci, Tiepolo und Piazzetta

Autore: Alexander Linke
In: Venetiana. 22
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Abstract

This essay examines the revival of Paolo Veronese in the 18th century. Prime examples stem from Sebastiano Ricci, Giambattista Tiepolo, and Giambattista Piazzetta. Focusing on The Family of Darius Before Alexander, at the time one of Veronese’s most famous paintings, this essay sheds new light on the visual exploitation of formal analogies, iconographic alterations and conceptual innovations as a means of addressing the subject of modernity by the younger generation. In short, Sebastiano Ricci is presented as a self-conscious artist, who emphatically modernizes the historical model. Tiepolo, on the contrary, displays an earnest interest in the historical position of Veronese as one of the founding fathers of the Venetian school of painting. Hence, he analyzes and accentuates precisely the formal principles of Veronese’s style within his own works. Lastly, there is Piazzetta’s Death of Darius, essentially composed as a counterpart to The Family of Darius Before Alexander by Veronese in Palazzo Pisani. However, this dark and soon-to-be partly damaged painting presents itself as a polemic response to Veronese, whose painting was regarded as a particularly fresh and shining example of Renaissance art.