Scherzo di Fantasia: Two Standing Orientals and a Standing Youth with a Sword

Scherzo di Fantasia: Two Standing Orientals and a Standing Youth with a Sword is a dynamic drawing by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, executed during his highly productive career (1696-1770). Classified as a preparatory or conceptual work, the piece belongs to Tiepolo’s celebrated Scherzi di Fantasia series, compositions characterized by mysterious figures, exotic costumes, and ambiguous settings. The medium combines the precision of pen and dark brown ink with the atmospheric depth provided by brush, utilizing pale and dark brown wash, all superimposed over faint initial traces of black chalk.

The composition features a tightly grouped trio. Two imposing men, typically identified as "Orientals" based on the artistic convention of generalized exotic attire, dominate the foreground. Situated between them is a youth or boy who is conspicuously equipped with a sword, suggesting a narrative element of tension or impending action. Tiepolo expertly employs the ink wash to articulate volume and shadow, lending a dramatic, almost theatrical illumination to the figures. The swift, confident lines of the pen work indicate the artist’s mastery of spontaneous invention, common to his conceptual drawings and the Capricci genre.

This important piece is held in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Scherzi di Fantasia were intrinsically linked to the printmaking process; many of these compositions served as models for etchings later created by Tiepolo’s son, Giovanni Domenico. This practice ensured the wider circulation of these unusual fantasies, making the master’s work accessible across Europe. Today, because these graphic works were so widely disseminated, many images based on Tiepolo's original drawings, including high-quality prints, are widely available through public domain resources.