Frescoes

In the Palazzina, upon the suggestion of Giustino Valmarana, Giambattista, at the hight of his artistic maturity, paints its grand epic poems, choosing when possible sentimental episodes: Iphigenia in Aulis, Iliad, Aeneid, Furious Orland, Liberated Jerusalem.

Iphigenia’s Sacrifice is illustrated in three-dimensional vision: at the centre the priest Calcante is about to kill the young Iphigenia. All the onlookers lift their glance, because miraculously, over a vaporous cloud, two cupids carry a deer, that will by sacrificed in the place of Iphigenia. On the right wall Agamemnon covers his face so as not to see his daughter’s killing. On one side of the ceiling Diana with her nymphs sends the rescuer deer. On the other side Eolus, god of the winds, blows a breath, so that the fleet can sail. On the other wall weapons and foodstuffs are being prepared for the expedition and the departure towards Troy. From the framing a main character stands out (perhaps Giustino Valmarana) that, touched, follows the tragedy that takes place on the altar of the sacrifice. Very interesting is the dog that greets his owner (perhaps Ulysses’). Above the doors there are the personifications in monochrome of the world’s four most important rivers, as known in 1700.

Briseis, Achille’s slave, is taken away forcedly from her tent to be introduced to her new owner: the king Agamemnon, who is waiting for her in a majestic position as a despot; Achilles, taken by anger, for his slave’s kidnapping, flings himself against Agamemnon but is held back by his hair by Minerva, goddess of war and knowledge descended from the sky; Achilles, sad, is comforted by his mother Tetis.

The rural landscape of last wall is due to Giandomenico. On the ceiling is reproduced. Minerva

Angelica, princess of Cathay, is tied at a cliff by pirates, to be devoured by a see monster; the knight Ruggero, on horseback of a hippogriph, comes down to rescue her; Angelica afterwards meets the Saracen soldier Medor and cures his thoracic haemorrhage; love is born between them, but poor as they are, they have to be rescued in a peasants’ house; in taking leave they thank the two peasants, giving them as present the ring that Orland had offered to Angelica as a token of his love (the characters of the two peasants are by Giandomenico). On the last wall Angelica engraves Medor’s name on the tree. On the ceiling Cupid blindfolded drives a chariot among clouds: it is an allegory of the loving passion, that, blind, determines human behaviour.

Venus, goddess of love, appears to her son Enea and his companion Acate, disembarked, after a storm on the African coasts and immediately moves away taking Ascanio with her. Cupid embodies in Iulus, who, together with his father, is regally welcomed by Dido: between the two, love is born; on the other wall there is Mercury with winged feet, who, as messenger of the Gods, introduces himself to Enea, ordering him to leave Carthage and to carry on his journey towards Latium. From Iulus, that will marry Lavinia, will descend the “gens iulia” (Julius Caesar and the great-grandson Augustus). So the Romans will descend from the Trojans and their birth will have royal and divine origins; in chiaroscuro is represented Vulcan, god of fire; in his forge he is supervising the works of his blacksmiths that are moulding the weapons for Enea, at the presence of Venus. On the ceiling, partially destroyed by a bombardment of the town of Vicenza in 1944, is represented Venus’ triumph.

The witch Armida, who protects the Sarasins, with a song lulling the crusader Rinaldo takes him with a chariot away from the war to her enchanted home; in this luxurious place and with the help of a mirror, Armida performs a spell through which the knight falls in love with her and abandons his crusader duty. Godfrey of Bouillon, the commander of the Christian army, sends two soldiers, Carlo and Ubaldo, to  bring him back to the battlefield; Rinaldo, thanks to an enchanted shield in which he sees himself, understands to bef the victim of a spell and re-joins the army, although Armida tries to seduce him again. On the ceiling, the allegory represents the triumph of virtue on vice, of  light over darkness, of good over evil.

The Foresteria, pictural triumph of Giandomenico Tiepolo, is the only place in he world where, through its seven rooms entirelly frescoed, it is possible to compare the work of the father Giambattista to that of the son Giandomenico;  after the Chinoiseires, the Pesants and the Promenades of the son, the eye is enchanted and yet confused in entering the room of the Gods of the Olympus, very different from the other rooms. It is painted by Giambattista, as so is the black servant (Alì) who descends the trompe-l’oeil stairs in the adjoining room dedicated to the Venice Carnival.

The frescoes depict an extravagant evocation of Chine, very much in fashion in Venice throughout the 18th century. The adoration of a Moon deity, the buying of spices and of preciuos silks are simple pretexts for showing us those goods that, since the time of Marco Polo, were arriving into Venice.

Giandomenico Tiepolo, who has never visited the Celestial Empire, has imagined four windows that open on an extraordinary country,where very strange animals live, enromous birds, imaginary spices and roots. The Maritime Pine that comes out from the wall's frame seems to enter in the room thus creating a tridimensional effect.

In this room Giandomenico represents the world of the Venetian peasants in a hot summer day. On a wall a family eats in front of a fence from which pumkins and leaves hang. On the wall opposite, another group of peasants rests under the trees with a row of mulberry trees in the background. Next to it two women and a child go to the market in their Sunday clothes; from a busket emerges a chicken head, while an old woman rests below a tree shadow reciting her rosary.

According to a number of art historians, Francisco Goya, would have been influenced by Giandomenico during his stay in Madrid where he had been called with his father to paint the ceiling of the Royal Palace. 

Above the doors satyrs and fauns make fun of those who pass.

The frescoes in this room show the promenades of aristocretic couples in Winter and in Summer in a Neo-Gothic setting: for the first time this style decorates a room which was usually employed for gardens pavillions.

On one side an elegant couple walks protected against the heat by a parasol; opposite, three rich ladies fight the winter cold with turbans, furs and sleeves.

At the center, two lovers dressed in Kossovo clothes, exchange a letter under an Autumn sky.

The room of the Gods of the Olympus is the only one frescoed by Giambattista who, with his mythological subjects, takes us back to the "Sublime" style. At the center, Juppiter is seated on the clouds, as if on a throne, next to him an eagle shows the symbol of his power:  thunderbolts and scepter. On the other walls there are other gods, each with his symbol: Mars and Venus with the apple; Apollo and Diana with the half moon over her head; Saturnus with the scythe and the hourglass; Mercury with the winged hat. 

This room is considered the masterpiece of the quadraturist Mengozzi Colonna with the two large staircases in trompe-l'oeil; from one hangs a monkey while from the other Ali - Tiepolo's black servant - probably painted by Giandomenico -  descends with a tray with coffee cups. The other walls show scenes of the Venetian Carnival, dominated by the Mondo Novo fresco: masked characters, painted from behind, follow the images produced by a magic Lantern. Many years later Giambattista -  back from Madrid - would reproduce this subject for his villa in Zianigo. It is now in Cà Rezzonico.

"Architectures" are the subjects of this room attributed to Antonio Visentini (1688 - 1782), who worked with the greatest Venetian painters of the 18th century, specialised in architectural fantasies and "capricci". Huge Palladian buildings are represented here. But the small characters in the foreground and in particular a gentleman and a dog that with great ease "spend a penny" are certainly the work of Giandomenico.

The room of the "Putti" takes its name from the children playing inside ovals framed by a series of golden arabesques that climb on the walls. The magnificent perrot with blue and red feathers is what stands out the most; this too has been reproduced fot his villa in Zianigo by Giandomenico and is now in Cà Rezzonico.