Heads of two boys

Giambattista Tiepolo's drawing, published in 1956 as Two Heads, a Boy's and a Man's, shows two smooth-haired boys leaning towards each other. They appear to be immersed in an intimate conversation. The figure sketched in the foreground in left profile is looking at something while raising his eyebrow. His left hand, curled into a fist, is pressed to his chest. He seems to be talking about something to a colleague, who is listening, leaning his head towards him, visible from above in a strong perspective foreshortening. It is not known for which composition this sketch was created as a preparatory drawing. The way of drawing indicates that it is a work by Giambattista Tiepolo. The artist uses a precise, firm line, clearly modelling solids with skilful application of chiaroscuro. The elaboration of anatomical details, such as the boy's eye in profile, in the opinion of George Knox, a researcher of the Tiepolo works, also points to the authorship of Giambattista Tiepolo, the father of the family.The drawing was done with black and white crayons on thick blue Venetian paper with an illegible watermark. It belongs to the largest Polish collection of drawings made by the eminent 18th-century Venetian Tiepolo family. Their researcher, Georg Knox, established that after Giambattista's death the sketches were inherited by his son, Giandomenico Tiepolo. They then became the property of his disciple, Johann Dominic Bossi (1767-1853), a miniaturist and draughtsman, painter to the Bavarian, Swedish, Russian and, Austrian courts. The Tiepolos' collection of drawings was inherited by his daughter, Maria Theresa Karolina (1825-1881), wife of the secretary of the Duchy of Württemberg. After their deaths the Tiepolos' works were auctioned off in Stuttgart. In 1882 the whole collection was bought by the Szczecin lawyer Johann Theodor Müller. They are currently held in the Cabinet of Graphic Arts in the National Museum in Szczecin.

Ewa Gwiazdowska