Giandomenico Tiepolo's "New World" opens at Gallerie d'Italia Vicenza
8 October 2026
Intesa Sanpaolo presents "Giandomenico Tiepolo (1727-1804). A New World" at Gallerie d'Italia - Vicenza, an exhibition celebrating one of the most original and complex artists of the Venetian eighteenth century. Although trained in the workshop of his father, Giambattista Tiepolo, Giandomenico developed a distinctive artistic language of his own, transforming the Venetian tradition into a personal reflection on the human landscape, everyday life and the theatre of existence.
Featuring 68 works, the exhibition guides visitors through the artist's career, from his early years working alongside his father on major decorative commissions to the masterpieces of his maturity. The title, A New World, refers not only to one of his most celebrated paintings but also to his innovative vision, in which grand historical narratives give way to the gestures, faces and emotions of ordinary life.
The exhibition also retraces the journeys that shaped Tiepolo's artistic development, from the Veneto region to Germany and Spain, highlighting a creative path that combined the great eighteenth-century decorative tradition with an entirely new narrative and intimate sensibility.
Curated by Carolina Brook, Valter Curzi and Fabrizio Magani, the exhibition marks the 300th anniversary of the artist's birth, offering a comprehensive reassessment of his work and restoring full recognition to a master long viewed primarily through the legacy of his father. The exhibition brings together works from leading Italian and international museums.
Painting, drawing and printmaking
The exhibition explores the principal themes of Giandomenico Tiepolo's artistic production, showcasing the diversity of his expressive languages, including:
- Sacred paintings distinguished by their emotional intensity
- The celebrated print series Idee pittoresche and Divertimento per li regazzi
- Drawings inspired by the artistic models of his father
- The Character Heads reveal a formal sensitivity akin to that of Rembrandt's tradition.
A major section of the exhibition is devoted to Tiepolo's genre scenes, among the most innovative aspects of his work. In these paintings, everyday life in eighteenth-century Venice becomes both a portrait of society and a profound reflection on the human condition.
Among the highlights is Mondo Novo (New World), on loan from the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid. The painting transforms a scene of collective curiosity around an optical device into a universal reflection on humanity's desire for knowledge and its capacity to imagine what lies beyond the present.
The final phase of the artist's career is represented by the celebrated Pulcinella cycle, created at the Tiepolo family villa in Zianigo. Through this symbolic figure, Tiepolo explored themes of time, memory and the human condition, anticipating ideas and sensibilities that would later influence modern visual culture.
Giandomenico Tiepolo (Venezia, 1727-1804). Il trionfo di Pulcinella, 1765-1770. Olio su tela, 35 x 57,5 cm. Copenaghen, Statens Museum for Kunst, inv. KMS3830 © Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenaghen
Beyond the exhibition
The exhibition programme includes guided tours, thematic itineraries, family workshops, educational activities for schools, and a rich calendar of events featuring music, theatre, cinema and literature.
Together with the museums in Milan, Naples and Turin, Gallerie d'Italia-Vicenza is part of Intesa Sanpaolo's museum network dedicated to promoting Italy's artistic and cultural heritage.
Held under the patronage of the City of Vicenza and organized in collaboration with the Martin von Wagner Museum of the University of Würzburg, the exhibition runs from 9 October 2026 to 17 January 2027. Further information is available on the Gallerie d'Italia website.
1.Giandomenico Tiepolo
(Venezia, 1727-1804)
Il mondo nuovo, 1765 circa
Olio su tela, 34 x 58,3 cm
Madrid, Museo del Prado, cat. n. P7805
© Photographic Archive, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
2.Giandomenico Tiepolo
(Venezia 1727-1804)
Gesù deposto dalla croce, 1772
Olio su tela, 124 cm x 142 cm
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, cat. n. P361
© Photographic Archive, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
3.Giandomenico Tiepolo
(Venezia, 1727-1804)
Il minuetto, 1754-1756
Olio su tela, 81 x 135 cm
Parigi, Musée du Louvre, Département des Peintures, inv. RF-1938-100
© RMN-Grand Palais / Franck Raux / Dist. Foto Scala, Firenze
4.Giandomenico Tiepolo
(Venezia, 1727-1804)
Il burchiello, 1765-1670
Olio su tela, 38 x 78, 3 cm
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. Gemäldegalerie 6424
© KHM-Museumsverband
Last updated 8 October 2026 at 14:31:50
