Not currently on view
In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · as of August 2026
FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG
A scherzo is a musical composition made up of little phrases, with implications of playfulness. Tiepolo's Scherzi are improvised scenes of magicians, philosophers, soldiers, old men in turbans, and shepherds who consult horoscopes, skulls, skeletons, and snakes among altars, ruins, and ancient bas-reliefs. The transitory nature of life, the vanity of human pursuits, and direct confrontation with death, are the recurring themes. The eerie mood of the prints reflect the preoccupation of 18th-century Venice with magic, superstition, and witchcraft. Light was Tiepolo's essential means of expression and the basic element of his style. The sensation of sunlight bathing each scene is an illusion created by the contrast of the nervous, broken lines against white paper. Shade is obliterated; even the darkest areas are transparent as they, too, are created out of light.
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Giovanni Battista Tiepolo — Magician pointing out a burning 
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo — The Discovery of the Tomb of Pun
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo — A Shepherd with two Magicians, f
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo — Satyr Family with the Obelisk, f
Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre — The Flight Into Egypt
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo — Magician with four Figures near 
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo — Two magicians and two boys, from
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo — Two astrologers and a boy, from 
Thomas Rowlandson|Francis Wheatley — Fishermen by the Shore 
Jacques-Adrien Lavieille|Charles Jacque — Three men at work 
Nicolas Toussaint Charlet (French, 1792–1845) — Landscape wi
Célestin François Nanteuil (French, 1813–1873) — The Robber 
