GIOVANNI BATTISTA TIEPOLO (VENICE 1696-1770 MADRID)

A study for the cherubs in the painting of Saint Anthony of Padua with the Infant Christ now in the Museum Nacional del Prado in Madrid (inv. P003007; see see M. Gemin and F. Pedrocco, Giambattista Tiepolo. I dipinti. Opera completa, Venice, 1993, no. 522, ill.). The altarpiece was part of a commission of seven paintings for San Pascual Baylon at Aranjuez in Spain, a new church constructed at the behest of King Charles III for the Alcantarine friars. Tiepolo received this important commission towards the end of his career, in 1767, soon after having completed the decoration of the ceilings of the Palacio Real in Madrid.