Death Giving Audience, from the series Vari Capricci

Although Tiepolo—a major international artistic figure in 18th-century Europe—provided designs for prints throughout his career, he did not take up the etching needle himself until around 1740. Etching provided greater freedom for the realization of his witty imaginings than did formal commissions, and the print medium allowed for wide dissemination of his output. The ten prints in the >i>Capricci series follow no obvious theme and their collective meaning remains imprecise. Figures gather in unspecified locations and engage in vague activities, often with supernatural entities, as in the case of Death shown here. While this image of confrontation between the living and the dead may be understood as a reminder of the brevity of life, Tiepolo’s highly individual rendition of the subject includes humorous details, such as the scrawny dog raising his hackles at the sight of Death.