TIEPOLO, Giovanni Battista
(b. 1696, Venezia, d. 1770, Madrid)

Allegory of Merit Accompanied by Nobility and Virtue

1757
Fresco, 1000 x 600 cm
Ca' Rezzonico, Venice

The oval-shaped ceiling fresco shows the allegory of Merit on the left-hand side, personified by an elderly, bearded man wearing a laurel wreath. Accompanied by Nobility and the winged figure of Virtue, dressed in white, he rises up on a cloud populated by putti towards the temple of Glory. On the upper edge of the picture, Fame announces the glory of Merit by sounding her trumpets. The mostly empty skies in the centre of the fresco contain only clouds and several putti.