'Tiepolo: the last breath of happiness in Europe'

The eighteenth-century Venetian painter Giambattista Tiepolo spent his life creating frescoes that are among the glories of Western art, yet he remains shrouded in mystery. Who was he? And what was the significance of the dark, bizarre etchings depicting sacrifice and magic, which he created alongside his heavenly works? Roberto Calasso explores Tiepolo as the last artist of the ancien regime and at the same time the first example of the "painter of modern life" evoked by Baudelaire. He was the incarnation of that peculiar Italian virtue sprezzatura: the art of not seeming artful.

Translated by Alastair McEwen

'A brilliant, eccentric, provocative . . . and thoroughly splendid celebration of a great painter' John Banville, The New Republic

'Calasso is a myth-maker ... a book that treats paintings as a kind of sorcery' Peter Conrad, Observer

New to Penguin Modern Classics- a captivating exploration of the work of one of Italy's most influential - and least understood - painters.

About the Author
Roberto Calasso was born in Florence in 1941. An author and publisher, he began working at Adelphi Edizioni from its founding in 1962 and continued as director for fifty years. The Book of All Books is the tenth part of a series that began with The Ruin of Kasch and includes the international bestseller The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony as well as Ka, K., Tiepolo Pink, La Folie Baudelaire, Ardor, The Celestial Hunter and The Unnamable Present. He died in Milan in 2021.

Reviews
Calasso has written a brilliant, eccentric, provocative, annoying, and thoroughly splendid celebration of a great painter. * The New Republic *
As one has come to expect of this polyglot and polymathic author, the range of references that inform his viewings is broad, deep and effortless * The Art Newspaper *
The next best thing to visiting Europe and seeing the painter's work . . . Calasso is one of the most demanding and intoxicating critics writing today. * Los Angeles Times *



Book Information
ISBN 9780241399422
Author Roberto Calasso
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Penguin Classics
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 496g
Dimensions(mm) 128mm * 198mm * 25mm