The Triumph of Aurelian

In 1718 the Venetian nobleman Alvise Zenobio married Alba Grimani, and the paintings may have been planned with that wedding in mind. For his family's palace in Venice he had the young Giambattista Tiepolo paint a series on the life of Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, a commission that may have taken close to a decade to finish. This canvas tells the end of her story. The emperor Aurelian defeated her in 272, and here he rides in his triumphal chariot with the captive queen in chains.

The cycle has long been scattered. Zenobia addressing her soldiers is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, her submission to Aurelian is in the Prado in Madrid, and two hunting scenes that may have belonged with them are in Milan. The museum dates this canvas only to after 1717 and before 1725, with other scholars proposing 1717 or about 1720, and it came to the gallery in 1869 as a gift from Francesco Marsengo.