Satyress with Two Putti and a Tambourine

Satyress with Two Putti and a Tambourine, painted around 1733 and now in the Norton Simon Museum, belongs to the decorative overdoor or spandrel paintings Tiepolo produced for villa interiors alongside his monumental fresco programs. The satyress — a female counterpart to the goat-legged satyr — was a Baroque and Rococo invention with no classical precedent, combining the erotic associations of the satyr with the visual pleasure of the female figure. Tiepolo's pastoral mythological paintings of the early 1730s reflect his engagement with the decorative tradition of the villa that stretched from the Villa Barbaro frescos of Veronese to the contemporary villas of the Veneto. The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena acquired this work as part of its exceptional collection of Tiepolo paintings, which includes works spanning his entire career. The tambourine held by the satyress connects the painting to the musical and theatrical traditions that Tiepolo consistently explored in his non-ecclesiastical work.

Creamy, warm palette and loose, confident brushwork create an atmosphere of relaxed sensuality. The figures are modeled with characteristic Tiepolo economy, with a few assured strokes defining form, light, and texture.