The Patron Saints of the Crotta Family, ca. 1750

About the Work

Until the Städel acquired it in 1902, Tiepolo’s painting was still in the Venetian palazzo of the Crotta family, who had once commissioned it. It shows a legendary episode from the history of that patrician dynasty, which had come from – and ruled – Bergamo. When the sovereign’s daughter Grata brings her heathen father the severed head of the martyred St Alexander, from which sweet-smelling flowers have sprouted, he converts to Christianity. Tiepolo stages the incident like a play, with dramatic gestures and luminous colours in a splendid architectural setting.