On 12 December 1750 the Venetian painter Giambattista Tiepolo arrived in Wurzburg, capital of the small German principality of Franconia. Its ruler, Prince-Bishop Carl Philipp von Greiffenclau, had commissioned him to decorate the Kaisersaal, one of the state rooms in his palace, the Residenz. Later extended to include the decoration of the Residenz's staircase, the commission resulted in a series of frescos that are numbered among the greatest glories...