FOREWORD IN 2002, THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST AND the strong Tiepolo holdings in Los Angeles, one the Courtauld Institute of Art in London work each from the Los Angeles County Museum inaugurated a close partnership. This collabora- of Art, the Huntington Art Collections, and tive venture has brought the staff and collections the J. Paul Getty Museum. The LAC MA and of both institutions closer together, opening Getty paintings help present a broader range of the door to exciting projects and bringing ceiling sketches, complementing the early important works of art to Southern California. Palazzo Sandi sketch from the Courtauld with Over the past two years, the Courtauld has works from the subsequent two decades. allowed a number of masterworks to travel from The Huntington canvas, a devotional painting London to Los Angeles on short-term loan, in Tiepolo's Saint Rocco series, sets off the where these works are placed in a dialogue with Courtauld's painting of the same subject, demon- the Getty collections. The present project takes strating the depth and invention that Tiepolo as its point of departure twelve glorious paint- brought to these commissions. ings by Giambattista Tiepolo in the Courtauld's The exhibition and this catalogue could collection. not have come into being without the work of These paintings, assembled by Count Jon L. Seydl, Assistant Curator of Paintings, Antoine Seilern and donated to the Courtauld under the direction of Curator Scott Schaefer. in 1978, are a significant and varied collection I also thank the Museum's former director, of the Venetian artist's work. Seilern concen- Deborah Gribbon, who supported this project trated on highly refined oil sketches by Tiepolo, from the very beginning. works of exceptional quality and in fine condition. Finally, I am grateful to the Samuel They represent the full arc of the artist's long Courtauld Trust and the Courtauld Institute career, ranging from a sketch for the earliest of Art—particularly the former director, of his major ceiling paintings to the modelli for James Cuno, and the current director, Deborah his final great commission, the altarpieces Swallow—for generously sharing with us for San Pascual Baylon in Aranjuez, Spain. These such a significant part of their collection and paintings — and now this exhibition—present for being such warm and gracious collaborators. a refined and delectable survey in miniature of this towering eighteenth-century artist's work. WILLIAM M. GRISWOLD We have augmented the Courtauld's excep- Acting Director and Chief Curator tional collection with three examples from J. Paul Getty Museum 6