Giovanni Battista Tiepolo - Madonna and the Goldfinch

Giovanni Tiepolo - Madonna and the Goldfinch (1760)
USA 20c Stamp issued 1982
Held at the National Gallery of Art Washington

Tiepolo is a highly regarded 18th century artist who is primarily known for his huge fresco works that were epic and grand - these were completed in the 1750s and are located through many churches and estates in Venice and surrounding regions.  He also worked as far afield as Madrid.


This painting depicts a very pale Madonna and child with fat rosy cheeks.  The goldfinch is meant to symbolise the eventual violent death of the child many years later - interestingly, another painting was completed by Raphael in the early 1500s with the same name and subject, so Tiepolo was covering familiar religious themes with this work.