The Battle of Vercellae

The Battle of Vercellae

The Battle of Vercellae

Artist:
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venice 1696–1770 Madrid)
Date:
1725–29
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Irregular painted surface, 162 x 148 3/8 in. (411.5 x 376.9 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Rogers Fund, 1965


This painting is from a series of ten magnificent canvases painted to decorate the main room of Ca’ Dolfin, Venice. The battle has been tentatively identified as the great victory of Gaius Marius over the fierce Teutonic tribes in Lombardy in 101 B.C. The tribe of the Cimbri had crossed the Alps near Trent and invaded the Veneto, whose mild climate and delicacies reputedly sapped their strength. Their defeat saved Rome from conquest.

Provenance
Ca' Dolfin, Venice (until 1872); Daniele III (Giovanni) and Daniele IV (Gerolamo) Dolfin, Ca' Dolfin (until both d. 1729); Dolfin family, Ca' Dolfin (1729–98); Cecilia Dolfin Lippomano, Ca' Dolfin (from 1798); by descent to Gasparo Lippomano, Ca' Dolfin (until d. 1854); his nephew, conte Giovanni Querini Stampalia, Ca' Dolfin (1854–d. 1868); [Michelangelo Guggenheim, Venice, by 1870–72; sold for 50,000 lire to von Aichholz]; Baron Eugen Miller von Aichholz, Palast Aichholz, Vienna (1872–d. 1919; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 15, 1876, no. 1, as "Le Siège de Palmyre," 480 x 370 cm, bought in); Camillo Castiglioni, Palast Aichholz, Vienna (1919–35; pledged as collateral security for a loan in 1932; transferred to Mendl in 1935); Dr. Stefan Mendl, Zürich, later New York and Saranac Lake, N.Y. (1935–d. 1955; his estate, 1955–65; sold to MMA)

Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org