Apotheosis of Saint Gaetano Thieme

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's Apotheosis of Saint Gaetano Thieme, painted in 1757, depicts the founder of the Theatine order being received into heavenly glory — a subject that gave full scope to Tiepolo's unparalleled mastery of ceiling painting and celestial composition. Gaetano Thieme had been canonised in 1671, and commissions to depict his apotheosis continued throughout the eighteenth century. This work belongs to Tiepolo's late Italian period, when his illusionistic ceilings had made him the most celebrated decorative painter in Europe.

The composition is designed for upward viewing, with the saint borne aloft by angels in a swirling arrangement of figures and clouds. Tiepolo's characteristic warm, golden light and his mastery of foreshortening give the floating figures convincing aerial buoyancy. The palette of warm pinks, blues, and golds against pale sky is quintessentially his late style.