This canvas, which is among Tiepolo's largest and most dazzling oil sketches, represents Apollo about to embark on his daily course across the sky. Deities around the sun god symbolize the planets, and allegorical figures on the cornice represent the four continents. On April 20, 1752, Tiepolo presented this preliminary sketch to Carl Philipp von Greiffenklau, prince-bishop of Würzburg, as his proposal for the decoration of the staircase ceiling of the Residenz, often considered the artist's greatest achievement and a landmark of European painting.
