The Family of Darius before Alexander; and Alexander addressing his Soldiers

Details

Francesco Fontebasso (Venice 1709-1769)
The Family of Darius before Alexander; and Alexander addressing his Soldiers
oil on canvas, quatrefoils
50½ x 50½ in. (127 x 127 cm.) (2)

Provenance

Ca' Zenobio, Santa Bona, near Treviso, by 1767, until removed after 1917.
Alverà collection, by 1929.
Anon. Sale, Christie's, New York, 4 November 1986, lot 172 (sold $26,400).

Literature

G. Dolcetti, Villa Elisa a Santa Bona, Venice, 1911.
Catalogue of the exhibition, Il Settecento Italiano, Venice, 1929, p. 70.
E. Martini, La pittura del Settecento Veneto, Udine, 1982, p. 526. E. Magrini, Francesco Fontebasso, Vicenza, 1988, p. 147, no. 74, one illustrated, fig. 101, pl. VII.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

These two works formed part of a cycle of paintings illustrating subjects from ancient history that adorned the second floor sala of the Ca' Zenobio (now the Villa del Prà) in Santa Bona, near Treviso, that was acquired by Sebastiano Uccelli in 1744. Some of the frescoes from the cycle still remain today. This pair belonged to a set of four quatrefoils recorded in Uccelli's posthumous inventory, dated 2 April 1767, and may be identified as the 'Quadri di Fontebasso nel muro...4' listed in the Sala di sopra in an inventory of the objects in the Ca' Zenobio drawn up on 9 January 1769 (see Magrini, op. cit., p.107). After the Italian defeat at Caporetto in 1917 the pictures were removed from the villa and replaced by mirrors although their original stucco frames are still in place today. The other two pictures from the set of four are in the Sorlini collection, Venice, (op. cit., no. 206, one illustrated fig. 100). The pictures are datable to the 1750s.

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