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Source Description
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, an important Venetian fresco painter of the 18th century, is best known today for his highly finished historical drawings that ingeniously incorporate details from daily life. In his series of 104 drawings known as<em> Divertimento per li Regazzi </em>(Entertainment for Children), he featured the Punchinello character from the Italian tradition of popular theater, a picaresque clown figure with a hooked nose, hunched back, and bloated belly. The character appears repeatedly in Tiepolo's sprawling narrative that rehearses the social mores of late 18th-century Venice through genre scenes of daily life, comic misadventures, and pathetic tragedies. In this enigmatic scene, one of nine sheets from the<em> Divertimento </em>at the CMA, the artist depicted a group of seven figures from the back as they wander aimlessly amid a shower that literally drips down the white paper. Domenico's characteristically tremulous lines and broad, simple washes of brown ink, laid down over an initial sketch in black chalk, capture a fresh and misty atmospheric effect that magnifies the pensive quality of the scene. The artist made this and other drawings from the series as finished works without correlations in other media.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
117028
label
A Spring Shower
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
117028
contentType
drawing
title
A Spring Shower
description
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, an important Venetian fresco painter of the 18th century, is best known today for his highly finished historical drawings that ingeniously incorporate details from daily life. In his series of 104 drawings known as<em> Divertimento per li Regazzi </em>(Entertainment for Children), he featured the Punchinello character from the Italian tradition of popular theater, a picaresque clown figure with a hooked nose, hunched back, and bloated belly. The character appears repeatedly in Tiepolo's sprawling narrative that rehearses the social mores of late 18th-century Venice through genre scenes of daily life, comic misadventures, and pathetic tragedies. In this enigmatic scene, one of nine sheets from the<em> Divertimento </em>at the CMA, the artist depicted a group of seven figures from the back as they wander aimlessly amid a shower that literally drips down the white paper. Domenico's characteristically tremulous lines and broad, simple washes of brown ink, laid down over an initial sketch in black chalk, capture a fresh and misty atmospheric effect that magnifies the pensive quality of the scene. The artist made this and other drawings from the series as finished works without correlations in other media.
date
1797–1804
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80011388
creators
1185
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Image: 29.6 x 41.5 cm (11 5/8 x 16 5/16 in.); Sheet: 35.5 x 47.1 cm (14 x 18 9/16 in.)
cul
Italy, Venice
accession
1937.573
Source extras
tec
pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash over black chalk; framing lines in brown ink over graphite on antique laid paper
tombstone
Divertimento per li Regazzi (Entertainment for Children): A Spring Shower, 1797–1804. Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (Italian, 1727–1804). Pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash over black chalk; framing lines in brown ink over graphite on antique laid paper; image: 29.6 x 41.5 cm (11 5/8 x 16 5/16 in.); sheet: 35.5 x 47.1 cm (14 x 18 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1937.573
series
Divertimento per li Regazzi (Entertainment for Children)
supportMaterials
description
cream(1) laid paper
collection
DR - Italian
inscriptions
inscription
signed, bottom right, in brown ink: Dom. Tiepolo f
inscription
upper left, in purple crayon: 74
inscription
verso, top right, in black chalk: 1
inscription
top right, in blue crayon: 7 [written over the "1"]
inscription
bottom right, in graphite: [Painting?] small of 4 figures only [upside down]
didYouKnow
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, who often depicted multiple Punchinellos (a clown figure) in his drawings, added two in this scene—the figure on the left with a cloak comically draped over his head, and another on the right holding an umbrella.
citations
citation
“Art Throughout America: Cleveland: Tiepolo Drawings from a Famous Series.” <em>The Art News </em>37, no. 34 (May 20, 1939): 15.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 15
citation
Francis, Henry S. "Six Drawings from the Life of Pulcinella by the Younger Tiepolo." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>26, no. 4 (April 1939): 46-49.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 48
citation
Golden Gate International Exposition, and Annemarie Henle. <em>Master Drawings, An Exhibition of Drawings from American Museums and Private Collections.</em> San Francisco, Calif: Palace of Fine Arts, Golden Gate International Exposition, 1940.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 24, cat. no. 99. Reproduced: p. 43 no. 99
citation
Palace of Fine Arts. <em>Golden Gate International Exhibition, Official Catalog. </em>San Francisco: Palace of Fine Arts, 1940.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 99, cat. no. 498.
citation
Tietze, Hans. <em>European Master Drawings in the United States</em>. New York: J.J. Augustin Publishers, 1947.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 198-199, no. 99
citation
Benesch, Otto. <em>Venetian Drawings of the Eighteenth Century in America</em>. New York: H. Bittner and Company, 1947.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pl. 42
citation
Detroit Institute of Arts. <em>Loan Exhibition of Old Master Drawings from Midwestern Museums: Detroit Institute of Arts, June 1-September 15, 1950</em>. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1950.
page_number
Reproduced: cat. no. 50
citation
Detroit Institute of Arts, and E. P. Richardson. <em>Venice, 1700-1800: An Exhibition of Venice and the Eighteenth Century.</em> Detroit: Detroit Institute of Art and John Herron Art Museum, 1952.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 63-64, no. 82
citation
Morassi, Antonio. “Una Mostra del Settecento Veneziano a Detroit.” <em>Arte Veneta: Rivista Trimestrale di Storia dell’Arte</em> 25 (1953).
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 53-54. Reproduced: p. 53 fig. 43
citation
Muraro, Michelangelo and Andre Grabar. <em>Treasures of Venice</em>. Geneva: Skira, 1963.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 211
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 148
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 148
citation
Mariuz, Adriano. <em>Giandomenico Tiepolo</em>. Venice: Alfieri, 1971.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 36
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 145
citation
Vetrocq, Marcia E., Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, and Adelheid M. Gealt. <em>Domenico Tiepolo's Punchinello Drawings. </em>Bloomington: Indiana University Art Museum, 1979.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 17, p. 82; Reproduced: p. 83, no. 23
citation
Vetrocq, Marcia. “The Divertimento per li Regazzi of Domenico Tiepolo.” PhD diss., Stanford University, 1979.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 143-144, cat. no. 55. Reproduced: p. 230 no. 55
citation
Fehl, Philipp P. “Farewell to Jokes: The Last Capricci of Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo and the Tradition of Irony in Venetian Painting.” <em>Critical Inquiry</em> 5, no. 4 (Summer 1979): 761-791.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 791, fig. 23.
citation
Gealt, Adelheid Medicus.”The courtship, marriage, and other exploits of Punchinello.” <em>Art News</em> 78, no.9 (November 1979): 134-137.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 136-137
citation
Carmean, E.A.<em>. Picasso: The Saltimbanques</em>. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1980.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 20, fig. 2
citation
“Museum and Dealer’s Catalogues: Frick Collection” <em>The Print Collector’s Newsletter </em>11, no. 1 (March-April 1980).
page_number
Reproduced: p. 19
citation
Ashbery, John. “Punch Lines.” <em>New York Magazine</em>, February 18, 1980. 80.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 80.
citation
Knox, George. "Domenico Tiepolo’s Punchinello Drawings: Satire, or Labor of Love?" In<em> Satire in the 18th Century</em>, edited by J.D. Browning, 124-146. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1983.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 145 no .74
citation
Borowitz, Helen O. "Three Guitars: Reflections of Italian Comedy in Watteau, Daumier, and Picasso." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 71, no. 4 (1984): 116-29.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 122; Reproduced: p. 23 fig. 11
citation
Gealt, Adelheid Medicus and James Byam Shaw. <em>Domenico Tiepolo: The Punchinello Drawings. </em>New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1986.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 21, 160; Reproduced: frontispiece, pl. 68.
citation
Levey, Michael. <em>Giambattista Tiepolo: His Life and Art</em>. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 134 fig. 124
citation
Mariuz, Adriano. “I disegni di Pulcinella di Giandomenico Tiepolo.” <em>Arte Veneta </em>40, (1986).
page_number
Reproduced: p. 273 fig. 11.
citation
Succi, Dario, Madelein Barbin, Annalia Delneri, Arnaldo Momo, and Michelangelo Muraro. <em>I Tiepolo: Virtuosismo e ironia</em>. Turin: Umberto Allemandi & Co., 1988.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 303 under no. 10, 322; Reproduced: p. 322.
citation
Pedrocco, Filippo. <em>Disegni di Giandomenico Tiepolo</em>. Milan: Berenice, 1990.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 90 no. 39; Reproduced: pl. 39
citation
Fehl, Philipp P. <em>Decorum and Wit: The Poetry of Venetian Painting, Essays in the History of The Classical Tradition.</em> Vienna: IRSA, 1992.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 348 fig. 224.
citation
Martineau, Jane, and Andrew Robison. <em>The Glory of Venice: Art in the Eighteenth Century</em>. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 1994.
page_number
Mentioned: 329-30, 505, no. 223
citation
Alpers, Svetlana. “Post-Genius Venice.” <em>Art in America</em> (March 1995): 62-69.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 69.
citation
Sciré, Giovanna Nepi, et al. <em>Splendori del Settecento Veneziano</em>. Milan: Electa, 1995.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 476, no. 204.
citation
Gealt, Adelheid M., George Knox, Giuseppe Bergamini, and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.<em> Domenico Tiepolo: Master Draftsman.</em> Milan, Italy: Electa, 1996.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 246, no. 74
citation
Paulin, Roger and Peter Hutchinson. <em>Rilke’s Duino Elegies</em>. London: Duckworth and Ariadne Press, 1996.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 77, fig. 4
citation
Wolk-Simon, Linda. "Domenico Tiepolo: Drawings, Prints, and Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." <em>The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin</em> 54, no. 3 (1996): 1-68.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 26 under no. 39, 68 no. 107
url
doi:10.2307/3269143
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. <em>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: cat. no. 27, p. 4, pp. 74-75, pp. 286-287; Reproduced: p. 75
citation
Mariuz, Adriano and Giuseppe Pavanello. <em>Tiepolo: Ironia e comico</em>. Venice: Marsilio, 2004.
page_number
Reproduced: no. 54
citation
Calasso, Roberto. <em>Il Rosa Tiepolo</em>. Milan: Adelphi, 2006.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 59; Reproduced: p. 62
citation
McHale, Katherine. “Child’s Play? Giandomenico Tiepolo’s Punchinello Drawings and the Fall of Venice.” <em>Master Drawings</em> 50, no. 1 (Spring 2012): 95-114.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 110; Reproduced: p. 111 fig. 17
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 159
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-06-10 17:57:53.239000
sourceId
117028
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - Italian
med
pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash over black chalk; framing lines in brown ink over graphite on antique laid paper
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
1208ca866de49826