Nicole Page-Smith
The light of the spirit
Nature is the purpose of the spirit with Tiepolo's painting, to the point of the subject matter being as a background almost hangover of an education. The airy fashion of the day although very decorative is concerned with nature. The very Venetian sky in all Tiepolo's works with the odd pigeon or dove flying around takes you past the consciousness of the seventeen-hundreds to the point of wanting your own ceiling to be decorated with a Tiepolo. Other than having a skylight and viewing the sky itself, the naturalism of Tiepolo masterpieces takes you spirit on a journey to god. The journey of the spirit is the subject matter and an inner Tiepolo light. In all of Tiepolo's genre you get a Romantic view of nature and the clouds, reminding you of Venice. The spiritual vocation was also an education but you feel Tiepolo's masterful output takes you to the clouds. Hanging in the clouds like a naked Venus one is made to feel as useless as the subject matter, to Tiepolo. Although, Tiepolo's spiritual paintings are transcendent and heavenly bound as the spirit. Time, the darkened presence in the foreground of the allegorical painting, "An Allegory with Venus and Time" (1754-1758), does very much reflect you could imagine the elderly, gentleman, painting. The very strange feeling Chronos communicates as the god of Time would suggest, makes you wonder if Tiepolo was trying to escape something other than death. All Tiepolo paintings take you to the light of the spirit.
