(Venice 1707–1769)
A lady with a page and a dog,
oil on canvas, 60 x 45 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Italy;
art market, Italy;
where acquired by the present owner

Literature:
D. Succi/A. Delneri, Il Fiore di Venezia. Dipinti dal Seicento all’Ottocento in collezioni private, Gorizia 2014, p. 146, no. 94, p. 148 ill.

We are grateful to Bernard Aikema for confirming the attribution of the present painting after examination in the original and for his help in cataloguing this lot.

This ‘genre picture’ is a typical example of the production of Francesco Fontebasso, one of the most appealing masters of Venetian Settecento painting. Born in Venice in 1707, Francesco frequented the workshop of Sebastiano Ricci, whose impact is discernible in the fresh colours and free handling of the present picture. In 1728 the young Fontebasso was in Rome, where he absorbed classicist tendencies resulting in a more structured shaping of his figures; this is another element to be seen in our picture.

Fontebasso is mainly known for his religious works and large-scale palace decorations, but he also executed a small number of half-figure ‘genre’ scenes showing one or two figures engaged in lively, day-to-day occupations. A good example is a small canvas showing Two Children Playing (Venice, private collection; cfr. M. Magrini, Francesco Fontebasso 1707-1769, Venice 1988, cat. no. 86), which seems close to the present painting. With this sort of picture, Fontebasso was evidently catering for a market served above all by Giambattista Piazzetta and his pupil, Domenico Maggiotto, who was almost the same age as Fontebasso (being born in 1713). Compared to the darker tones and compact handling of the Piazzettesque pictures, the present work stands out by its light painterly touch and clear, almost pastel-like chromatic qualities.