Minneapolis Institute of Art

Death of Hyacinth

Giambattista Tiepolo (Giovanni Battista Tiepolo)

Date

c. 1752–53

Medium

Pen and brown ink and wash on laid paper

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

How much drama can a great artist pack into a tiny space? Using a brush to draw with various dilutions of ink wash, Giambattista Tiepolo turned this tiny sheet of paper into an operatic stage. This sketch provided the seed for a painting that was over nine feet tall. The dying figure is Hyacinth, a handsome prince who became the god Apollo’s lover in Greek mythology. When Apollo threw a discus, Hyacinth wanted to impress him by catching it, but the unfortunate youth was fatally struck in the head. Unable to revive Hyacinth, Apollo memorialized his lover by creating a flower, the hyacinth, from his body. Tiepolo’s painting reveals that he learned the story from a 1561 translation that substituted a tennis ball for the discus. Italy, Europe

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