Tiepolo Pink

Of all the greats of painting, Tiepolo was the last one who knew how to keep silent.

3.5 stars with an asterisk: political reality has never been this depressing. Calasso points to the sublime, the inherent mystery within. The task at hand is the Scherzi and the Capricci a pair of collections of etchings from the 18C painter Giambattista Tiepolo, an inscrutable iconography. Along the way of this largely orthodox art criticism we do encounter the Chaldean who sat with Plato during the philosopher's last days and the bronze serpent of the prophet Moses. Casting silent judgement over this constitutional is the ubiquitous Baudelaire.

This work deserved a better reading but I can't help but be poleaxed by each day's WH delirium. I almost hold show more my breath each morning before logging on to The Guardian. show less

This was one of those books that had deserts and desserts; both were pretty, some were long. Though I often found myself confused and impatient while reading this, the first sentence was very rewarding.
"What happened with Tiepolo was the same thing that was to happen with certain imposing and mysterious ancient objects like the Shang bronzes: those aspects that resisted interpretation were considered decorative, while those too charged with meaning were labeled ornamental." I can take that to the museum with me.