The Investiture of Bishop Harold as Duke of Franconia

The Investiture of Bishop Harold as Duke of Franconia, painted around 1751-52 and now at the Metropolitan Museum, is an oil sketch for one of Tiepolo's greatest achievements: the ceiling frescoes of the Würzburg Residenz, painted for Prince-Bishop Karl Philipp von Greiffenclau. The Würzburg ceiling, with its enormous staircase fresco representing the four continents of the world in homage to the prince-bishop, is considered Tiepolo's masterpiece and one of the supreme decorative achievements of eighteenth-century Europe. This modello preserves the spontaneous energy of Tiepolo's compositional thinking before translation to monumental fresco — the brilliant, summary brushwork of the sketch revealing the creative process behind the finished grand work. The Met's collection of Tiepolo sketches and modelli is among the most important in the world for understanding his working method.

The oil sketch demonstrates Tiepolo's planning process for the monumental ceiling fresco. Dynamic composition with dramatic foreshortening and radiant light effects are worked out in fluid, rapid brushwork that captures the grandeur of the final fresco.