Nicola Grassi (Formeaso di Zuglio, Udine 1682-1748 Venice)

Active in Venice, Nicola Grassi began his artistic training in the studio of the celebrated portraitist, Nicolò Cassana. It was likely through the elder artist that Grassi came into contact with the most important painters of the preceding generation in the Veneto, including Rosalba Carriera to Sebastiano Ricci and Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, and their influence is felt in his works, such as the present lot, which masterfully combines a dramatic tenebrism with the vibrant colorito so characteristic of 18th-century Venetian painting.