Giambattista Tiepolo was born in Venice in 1696 from a family of shipowners, but the following year his father passed away, leaving the family in financial difficulties. The first teacher of Tiepolo was the modest Gregorio Lazzarini, but already in the first decorative enterprises the influence of the great Venetian masters like Paolo Veronese, Tintoretto and Jacopo da Bassano is clear.
Between 1730 and 1940 Tiepolo worked mainly in Lombardy, carrying out large decorative complexes such as the frescoes of the Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo and Palazzo Clerici in Milan; After having executed, around 1740, some of his most demanding works, such as the spectacular and dramatic stories of the Passion in the Venetian church of S. Alvise, the artist continues unabated his tireless activity in the following decade, rich in altar, of sketches, of great frescoes like the Stories of Cleopatra in the hall of Palazzo Labia in Venice.
Called in 1751 to Würzburg by the Bishop Prince Charles Philippe of Greiffenklau, the painter gave the palace of the Residence a new, exceptional proof of his decorative virtuosity in the very large fresco of Olympus and in other stories conducted with majestic emptiness.
In the last period, from the return to Venice to the final stay in Madrid, Tiepolo increased the freedom of the stretch, exalting shapes and lights in exalted games of color ranges. In Madrid the artist went to the invitation of Charles III, accompanied by his sons Giandomenico and Lorenzo, staying there for eight years, until his death in 1770; but his stay in the Iberian capital was anything but happy, partly because of the incomprehension of which his art was the object of his own clients.