Death of Hyacinth

How much drama can a great artist pack into a tiny space? Using a brush to draw with various dilutions of ink wash, Giambattista Tiepolo turned this tiny sheet of paper into an operatic stage. This sketch provided the seed for a painting that was over nine feet tall. The dying figure is Hyacinth, a handsome prince who became the god Apollo’s lover in Greek mythology. When Apollo threw a discus, Hyacinth wanted to impress him by catching it, but the unfortunate youth was fatally struck in the head. Unable to revive Hyacinth, Apollo memorialized his lover by creating a flower, the hyacinth, from his body. Tiepolo’s painting reveals that he learned the story from a 1561 translation that substituted a tennis ball for the discus.