St Prosdocimus baptizing St Giustina

Giambattista Tiepolo’s drawings have been described as being so suffused with strong light that his figures squint from its intensity. Such a description seems fitting for this sheet, which depicts an unusual subject in Christian art – the baptism of a woman, most likely St Giustina. The saint had special significance in northern Italy, especially in the Veneto region where Tiepolo worked for most of his career. According to local tradition, St Peter sent St Prosdocimus to Padua in the first century to convert the ruler Vitaliano and his family to Christianity.

A drawing of the martyrdom of St Giustina in the Horne collection (Uffizi, Florence) is possibly a companion to the National Gallery of Victoria’s drawing, and both belong to a group of finished drawings that the artist made in 1735–40. These two large and highly worked sheets are not connected with Tiepolo’s painting projects, and it would seem that they were made as independent works of art.

The virtuosity of Tiepolo’s skill is evident in the calligraphic intricacy of the figures’ falling robes, which, although elaborate, never appear laboured. This quality of lightness, both of touch and in the atmospheric effects he evoked, was central to Tiepolo’s approach to drawing.

Text by Maria Zagala from Prints and Drawings in the International Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2003, p. 58.