Time and Truth

"Time and Truth" is a powerful allegorical drawing by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, dating from the height of the artist’s productivity between 1696 and 1770. This remarkable sheet exemplifies Tiepolo’s masterful graphic technique, executed in pen and brown ink, with layered brushwork utilizing pale and dark brown wash, all established over an initial sketch in black chalk. The skillful application of the washes creates dramatic contrasts of light and shadow, lending the figures a robust, three-dimensional quality characteristic of the Baroque and Rococo periods.

The subject illustrates the classical notion of the revelation of Truth by Time, a common theme in 17th and 18th-century art intended to convey the eventual triumph of honesty. The composition typically features the personification of Time, often depicted as a winged elderly male, exposing or raising the figure of Truth. In keeping with established iconographic traditions, Truth is rendered as a female nude, symbolizing pure and unadulterated reality. Tiepolo’s dynamic rendering of these figures demonstrates his celebrated ease and virtuosity as a draftsman, distinguishing him as the foremost painter of the Venetian Settecento.

This finished study, showcasing the high quality of Tiepolo’s draftsmanship, is preserved in the prestigious collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work’s assured composition and dramatic tonal interplay make it a key example for understanding the artist’s working process. Today, reproductions and high-quality prints of this influential drawing are widely accessible through the museum’s expansive public domain initiatives, ensuring continued study by scholars and art enthusiasts worldwide.