Kunsthandlung Helmut H. Rumbler was founded by Helmut and Petra Rumbler in Frankfurt in 1971. From the beginning the gallery was focusing on Old Master Prints of exceptional museum quality from the 15th to the 19th century.
Since 2016, when Helmut Rumbler passed away, the gallery is led by Petra Rumbler together with Dr. Michael Weis. The gallery continues its tradition of annually publishing richly illustrated and well researched catalogues .
Giovanni Battista TIEPOLO
(1706 Venise – Madrid 1770)
Adoration of the Magi
Ca. 1749/57
Etching
43.2 x 28.8 cm
De Vesme 1/I (of IV); Rizzi 27/I (of III); Russell 41; Succi 69/I (of II)
Watermark: the letters “A V” underneath a finial
Provenance
Private collection, Germany
The greatest among the altogether 35 etchings by this artist, singled out already by Basan in 1767 as a chef-d’œuvre by G. B. Tiepolo, and often regarded as a highpoint of graphic art in the 18th century, in an exquisite early impression printed on thick, typical Venetian paper, prior to the posthumously added number “3” above left, as well as the “25” on the upper right.
Still with the entire tonal richness generated by the traces of so to speak adventitious irregularities on the copperplate – areas that were deliberately left untreated by the artist, and which set particularly attractive atmospheric accents in the sky, for example, of such importance for the luminous quality of the composition as a whole. The almost nervously dotted network of lines, set down with great fluency, marvelously powerful and of the loveliest delicacy in the only faintly etched areas.
Tiepolo’s composition echoes a theme that was often encountered in Venetian art beginning in the 16th century, in particular in Veronese’s Adorations in London, Dresden, and Vicenza.
Entirely in the spirit of Tiepolo’s decorative fresco painting, this etching testifies to the virtuosity of his artistic resources, which endow the sheet with great esprit, and at the same time with a majestic silvery sheen. (Peter Prange)
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