FRANCESCO FONTEBASSO (VENICE 1707-1769)

This large sheet can be grouped with two other religious scenes, in the same technique and of equally impressive dimensions: the Martyrdom of Saint Alexander of Bergamo (?) in the Hoesch collection (S. Morét in Galleria portatile. Italienische Handzeichnungen alter Meister aus der Sammlung Hoesch, II, Petersberg, 2012, no. 45, ill.), and the Deposition of Christ, currently on the Paris art market. Their compositions correspond closely to drawings among the 28 religious scenes by Fontebasso contained in the so-called Cini Album at the Museo Correr, Venice; originally, the series may have been even larger (for the album, see M. Magrini, ‘Francesco Fontebasso. I disegni’, Saggi e memorie di storia dell’arte, XVII (1990), pp. 167-168, nos. 173-200, ill.). The fame of these drawings, probably made as independent works of art, is not only evident from the existence of the autograph replicas to which the present sheet and the two mentioned above belong, but also from a large number of studio copies. Of the drawing in the Cini Album corresponding to the work offered here (Museo Correr, inv. 6559; see Magrini, op. cit., no. 193), a weaker version, given to a follower of Fontebasso, survives at the National Gallery of Art, Washington (inv. 1973.64.11).