The Museum’s Restoration Department has recently worked on one of the most important and fascinating works in the collection and possibly its greatest gay icon: The Death of Hyacinthus by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Painted more than 260 years ago, in 1752, it was commissioned by the German Baron Wilhelm Friedrich Schaumburg-Lippe as a homage to his lover, a Spanish musician with whom he lived in Venice until the latter’s death in 1751.

Following its recent cleaning, technical study and restoration the painting is exhibited in Room 17 between 23 June 2017 and 14 January 2018, alongside X-radiographs and infrared reflectographs that show all the work undertaken as well as revealing new discoveries and details. Also on display are two drawings by Tiepolo loaned by the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart. The installation has been devised and created by the Departments of Restoration and Old Master Painting.