The other bust in the Tiepolo workshop was a portrait of Giulio Contarini by Alessandro Vittoria. The terracotta bust depicts Vittoria’s close friend and patron, Giulio Contarini (1500-1580), who held the notable position of procurator at St. Mark’s Basilica for more than 40 years. Portraying a remarkable resemblance to Contarini – from the fine detail of his hair and beard to the soft lines on his face and delicate folds of his clothing – the terracotta bust served as an accurate model for a separate marble version that sits on Contarini’s funerary monument in the church of Santa Maria del Giglio in Venice.
Giulio Contarini by Alessandro Vittoria
Giambattista Tiepolo
Drawings from the terra cotta portrait of
Giulio Contarini by Alessandro Vittoria
