Glorification of Saint Faustinus and Saint Jovita and Two Unknown Saints

This oil sketch stems from the hand of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. It was done after his return from Würzburg, where, together with his eldest son, Giovanni Domenico (1727–1804), he painted the frescoes on the ceiling of the Imperial Hall of the Würzburg Residenz, regarded as the zenith of his artistic career. With the Bremen cartoon in oil, he prepared the fresco on the ceiling of the choir of the Santissimi Faustino e Giovita church in Brescia, though he left its execution up to his son. The upper half of the painting shows in an extremely foreshortened view from below the patron saints of the church, Faustinus and Jovita, who have ascended to Heaven, where they are surrounded by angels. The two brothers had been appointed priest and deacon by the Bishop of Brescia, but they suffered their martyrdom during the persecution of the Christians under Emperor Hadrian in AD 120. The remaining two saints, at the left and in the lower half of the painting, have not been conclusively identified to date. It is thought that the monk with the abbot’s crozier is Augustine. The saint in a nun’s habit is probably Afra, the city patroness of Brescia, who, according to legend, was converted to Christianity by Faustinus and Jovita.