in a greater crowding of the figures, in a certain disproportion between the principal and secondary characters, in the somewhat acidulous taste of the color, in the recurrence of certain types (lanky youths with protruding ears, broad faces, etc.), as well as in the more tremulous and nervous line. Nevertheless, the distinction is not always easy, since Domenico sometimes sought to imitate his father’s manner to an almost incredible degree. In the carnival scenes at Valmarana his predilections are by now explicit; and likewise in various delightful scenes in the other rooms of that Foresteria, where the artist expresses himself through lively and fresh inventions drawn from the customs of his time. There is no doubt that this was his path: the scenes of the Balletti, the Ciarlatani, etc., in the Louvre, or in the Museum of Barcelona (formerly in the Palazzo Papadopoli in Venice), or finally those in the Blake collection, now in Kansas City (U.S.A.), are sufficient to demonstrate II. He also perfected this taste during his stay in Spain, where, among other works, he painted the unforgettable (signed) scene of the Partenza della gondola, belonging to the collection of Count Quintanilla (formerly Torrecilla) in Madrid; a scene that forms a pair with the Burchiello (initialed) in the Vienna Museum. In this field he was a master; he was unsuccessful, however, in the grandiose and cumbersome decorations, as he was in Genoa in the ceiling of the Palazzo Ducale (1783), where he repeated his father’s formulas without enthusiasm and with excessive crowding. A draughtsman and engraver of extraordinary vivacity, D. made his mark at a very young age with the series of his Idee pittoresche sopra la Fuga in Egitto, published in 1753; he engraved many of his father’s paintings and frescoes; he published the Raccolta di Teste. In his final years he devoted himself especially to drawing; he imagined the life and death of Pulcinella in a series of fanciful sheets entitled Divertimenti per li ragazzi - carte 104; he sketched rapid caricatures of the life of his times, of a sarcastic and biting character such as that of an Hogarth or a Rowlandson.
Principal works (in addition to those mentioned above): Bassano, Museum: Madonna col Bambino; Detroit, Institute of Arts: Alessandro e le figlie di Dario; Florence, Uffizi: Paggio, Dama con ventaglio (attributed to Longhi); Museo Stibbert: Battesimo di Cristo; Frankfurt, Staedel Institute: Generosità di Scipione; Hartford (U.S.A.), Wadsworth Atheneum: Ultima Cena; London, National Gallery: Il cavallo di Troia (two sketches); Los Angeles, Loewi collection: Cristo risana il cieco, 1752; Lugano, Thyssen collection: Trionfo d'Ercole; Madrid, Royal Palace: Apoteosi della Spagna, fresco on the ceiling of the room before the Anticamera de la Reyna; Mainz, Museum: Accampamento; Merlengo, parish church: S. Osvaldo; New York, Metropolitan Museum: Bozzetto for the ceiling of the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa; formerly in the Wildenstein collection: I cani sapienti, Minuetto; Padua, S. Agnese: Madonna e Santi, 1777;
Duomo: Madonna e s. Filippo Neri, Madonna e s. Gerolamo Emiliani, 1778; Paris, Louvre: Bozzetto for a ceiling; Rome, Albertini collection: Nascita della Vergine, Presentazione al tempio; Carandini-Albertini collection: l'Arrivo di Abramo e di Lot, La separazione di Abramo e di Lot (ca. 1752–53); Schleissheim, Gallery: Cristo nella casa di Simone, Ultima Cena, 1752; Stockholm, Museum: Adorazione dei pastori, 1754, Presentazione al tempio; Venice, Accademia: Abramo e gli angeli, S. Francesco da Paola, Miracolo dell'indemoniato, 1748; Ca' Rezzonico: frescoes detached from the T. villa; Verona, Civic Museum: I Santi Olivetani (from Murano).
He followed his father to Würzburg and to Spain. He is mentioned in 1761 in the book of the Fragilia pittorica of Venice. He painted a ceiling in the Royal Palace of Madrid in 1768, and subsequently numerous portraits of the Royal Family. From 1774 onward he was involved in lengthy disputes over payment for pastel works executed for the Royal Family.
Few works by L. are known to us: a signed drawing in the Rasini collection in Milan; a small portrait of Carlo Goldoni, which served as the model for an engraving, in the Albertina in Vienna; and engravings of his father’s works, signed. Probably also by him are: a pastel portrait, said to represent his wife but more probably his mother, in Ca' Rezzonico; a drawing with three heads in the Museo Malaspina in Pavia; the painting depicting the T. family in the Rosebery collection in London; and a preparatory drawing for the figure of the painter in the aforementioned picture, in a private collection in Milan. Other attributions made previously carry little weight; and therefore the artistic personality of L., which must nevertheless be acknowledged on the basis of the engravings and these few drawings and paintings, of a certain significance, still remains to be clarified. — Vedi tavv. IX-X.