Artwork
The Apostles' Creed
The Apostles' Creed is a chalk drawing by the Romanticist artist Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo. It dates from 1780 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. Created around 1780, The Apostles’ Creed is a drawing executed in pen and brown ink with a wash applied over black chalk on laid paper.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower right in pen and ink: Dom. Tiepolo f; center in pen and ink: SIMBOLO APOSTOLICO / CREDO / IN SECNO CON IL QVALE SI / CONQSCESCESSER LI FEDELI E'PER / TE NERLO PER VN SOMMARIO BREVE / E COMPENDIOSO DI QUELLO CHE ESSI / D OVEVANO PREDICARE, E CREDERE
About this work
Overview
Created around 1780, The Apostles’ Creed is a drawing executed in pen and brown ink with a wash applied over black chalk on laid paper. The work measures as a single sheet and exemplifies the late‑18th‑century practice of combining drawing and ink wash to convey both line and tonal depth.
Context
The piece was produced by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, an Italian painter and printmaker active in the latter half of the 1700s. He belonged to a distinguished artistic lineage, being the son of the celebrated frescoist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and the brother of Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo, who also pursued a career in the visual arts.
Technique & Style
Tiepolo’s approach merges the precision of pen work with the atmospheric qualities of brown‑ink wash, laid over an underdrawing in black chalk. This combination allows for fine linear definition while simultaneously suggesting volume and shading, a method typical of his workshop’s training in both drawing and printmaking.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (August 30, 1727 – March 3, 1804) was an Italian painter and printmaker in etching. He was the son of artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and elder brother of Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo.
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