As the oldest son of Giambattista Tiepolo, Domenico received his training in his father's workshop, beginning around 1740. He copied his father's drawings and made detail studies after his paintings. At twenty he produced a painting cycle, the 'Via Crucis', for the church of San Polo in Venice (1747). From 1750 to 1770 he worked as his father's assistant, producing works of his own on the side. Together with his brother Lorenzo (1737-1776), he accompanied his father to Würzburg (1750-1753) and Madrid (1762-1770). After Giambattista's death in 1770, Domenico returned to Venice. In the following years he created his most remarkable works, among them 'Abraham and the Three Angels' (1773/74, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice), 'The Building of the Trojan Horse' (1773/74, Hartford, CT, Wadsworth Atheneum) and 'The Apotheosis of the Giustiniani Family' (1785, formerly Sala del Maggior Consiglio, Doge's Palace, destroyed). Among his last works are the frescoes painted in the 1790s for the Villa Tiepolo in Zianigo near Mestre (now Ca' Rezzonico, Venice). Domenico is known primarily for his graphics and his series of drawings. As early as 1748/49 he had created the print series on the 'Via Crucis' after his painting cycle in San Polo. This was followed in 1753 by the album of the Flight into Egypt ('Idee Pittoresche sopra la Fugga in Egitto di Giesù, Maria e Giuseppe'), executed in Würzburg and dedicated to Karl Phillip von Greiffenklau. Between 1771 and 1774 he produced the 'Raccolta di Teste' (a series of heads) as well as a number of etchings after his father's paintings. Parallel to this, especially in his last two decades, he made numerous series of drawings in which he illustrated biblical and allegorical themes ('The Baptism of Christ', 'God the Father Borne by Angels', 'St Anthony', 'Cupid with Putti') in a number of variations. He also created a series of pictorial drawings on everyday subjects ('Ladies at Their Toilet', 'Picnic Out of Doors') and religious ones ('The Life of the Virgin'). The last one, from around 1797, was the series 'Divertimento per li regazzi' (Entertainment for the Young), which narrates daily life with the help of Pulcinella figures.
