Saint Leonard between Saint Lawrence Giustiniani, Saint Andrew and Saint Nicholas

Details

Francesco Fontebasso (Venice 1707-1769)
Saint Leonard between Saint Lawrence Giustiniani, Saint Andrew and Saint Nicholas
oil on canvas
22 ½ x 16 3/8 in. (57.2 x 41.7 cm.)

Provenance

Nicolson collection.
Anonymous sale; Bukowskis, Stockholm, 28 September 1916, lot 40, as Giandomenico Tiepolo.
Consul General Karl Bergsten (1869-1953), Villa Dagmar, Stockholm, since 1916, and by descent to the present owner.

Literature

K. Asplund, Catalogue de la collection de M. et Mme K. Bergsten, Stockholm, 1925, no. 47, as Giandomenico Tiepolo.
F. Valcanover, 'La mostra "Venezia nell'arte" a Stoccolma', in Emporium, March 1964, p. 111.
M. Magrini, Francesco Fontebasso, Venice, 1988, no. 144, fig. 25.

Exhibited

Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Italienska tavlor och techningar i Nationalmuseum o. andra svenska och finska Samlingar, 1933, no. 140, as Giambattista Tiepolo.
Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Konstens Venedig, 20 October 1962-10 February 1963, no. 168.

Lot Essay

This fresh, spontaneously executed oil sketch dates to circa 1737. It is a variant of the modelletto formerly in the Foresti collection in Milan (see M. Magrini, Francesco Fontebasso, Venice, 1988, no. 91, fig. 26), and is comparable to the altarpiece of the church of San Salvador in Venice (op. cit. no. 179, fig. 24). Both palette and composition reveal a debt to the renowned 18th century Venetian painter, Giambattista Tiepolo. Indeed, the picture was mistakenly attributed to Tiepolo by Asplund, before it was recognized by Pallucchini and Moschini as a characteristic early work by Fontebasso (verbal communication, 1961).

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