Virgin and Child

Tiepolo's Virgin and Child, painted around 1720, belongs to his early period when he was still developing his mature style from the Venetian Baroque inheritance of Piazzetta and Ricci. Early Tiepolo devotional works show a heavier, more chiaroscurist handling than his later luminous manner, and the Virgin and Child is a subject that runs throughout his career as a touchstone for his evolving approach to sacred imagery. This early work demonstrates his emerging gifts for tender figure relationships.

The Virgin and Child are rendered in a warm, intimate close-up composition. Tiepolo's early handling retains more shadow and tonal contrast than his later, airier manner. The figures' warm flesh tones are modelled with confident plasticity, and the Virgin's expression of gentle contemplation is characterised with emotional directness.