Francesco Albotto Venice 1721-1757

Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan;
By whom sold, New York, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, 18 May 1972, lot 137 (as Follower of Michele Marieschi), for $3,250 to William R. Drown;
With Drown Gallery, London;
Acquired by the present owner in Paris in the 1970s.

R. Pallucchini, "Francesco Albotto: erede di Michele Marieschi", in Arte Veneta, vol. XXVI, 1972, pp. 222-3, reproduced fig. 302 and a detail fig. 303;
E. Martini, La pittura del Settecento veneto, Udine 1982, p. 536;
M. Manzelli, "Ulteriori notizie su Francesco Albotto, erede di Michele Marieschi", in Arte Veneta, vol. XXXVIII, 1984, p. 211;
D. Succi, Capricci veneziani del Settecento, Turin 1988, p. 173;
D. Succi, Marieschi, tra Canaletto e Guardi, exhibition catalogue, Gorizia, Castello di Gorizia, 30 June - 15 October 1989, pp. 26, 165, and 215, reproduced figs. 193 and 194;
M. Manzelli, Michele Marieschi e il suo alter-ego Francesco Albotto, Venice 1991, p. 71, cat. no. A.1.1, reproduced plate A.1.1;
R. Toledano, Michele Marieschi, Milan 1995, pp. 26 and 28, reproduced on p. 28, fig. 14.

Since its first and last appearance on the market in 1972 this work has been published as the only sure work by Francesco Albotto, and as the painting upon which all attributions to the artist depend. Before being relined the canvas was apparently inscribed on the reverse: 'Francesco Albotto, F, in Cale de Ca' Loredan, S. Luca’.¹ As the only ‘signed’ example in Albotto’s œuvre, it provides the key to understanding the artist’s style, and from its earliest publication scholars have unanimously dated it to the 1740s.

When the painting appeared at auction for the first time it was catalogued as being by a ‘Follower of Michele Marieschi’; a not unreasonable description given the broad stylistic similarities between the two artists’ works. Indeed Albotto was Marieschi’s only known pupil and the greatest imitator of his style, and when Marieschi died in 1743 at the age of thirty-two Albotto literally stepped into his master’s shoes: he inherited his workshop in the San Luca district and even married Marieschi’s widow Angela Fontana in October of the following year. Their happiness was short-lived, however, as their son died after only a few days in December 1751 and Angela passed away soon afterwards. This painting has been dated to a relatively early phase in Albotto’s artistic career, at a time when his style was close to that of Marieschi, not only in his choice of composition but also in his painting technique. The view is taken from the Bacino di San Marco and follows a similar viewpoint adopted by Marieschi for a number of his own paintings.² Albotto’s own painted replicas, in which the staffage differs every time, all demonstrate the artist’s ability to emulate Marieschi’s painting technique, particularly in the depiction of water and of the wall surface of the Palazzo Ducale.³ When talking about Marieschi in his Abecedario, Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694-1774) remarked that Albotto liked to be called ‘the second Marieschi’, suggesting that he actively sought to promote his position as Marieschi’s successor.⁴ Indeed Albotto must have enjoyed his temporary position as the principal vedutista in Venice during the later 1740s and ’50s, helped in great part by Marieschi’s untimely death and Canaletto’s departure for England in 1746. It is quite possible that if Albotto himself had not died prematurely at the age of thirty-five, his reputation might have been more long-lasting. By the sixth decade of the 18th century Albotto was certainly operating as an independent artist for between 1750 and 1756 an artist called Francesco Alboro - almost certainly to be identified with Francesco Albotto - is recorded in the Fraglia (the list of Venetian painters registered at the Accademia).⁵

We are grateful to Ralph Toledano for having been the first to recognise and identify the painting as that sold in 1972, and for his assistance in cataloguing this lot. The high quality of the work has led Mr. Toledano to suppose that the painting might have been begun by Marieschi and completed by Albotto after his master’s early and sudden death in 1743.

1 The inscription as it appeared was transcribed by Pallucchini, see Literature.
2 See for example Toledano, under Literature, pp. 40-41, cat. nos. V.1.a-V.1.d, all reproduced.
3 For three other variants by Albotto see Toledano, op. cit., pp. 28-29, reproduced figs. 15-17. Toledano remarks that although Albotto emulates Marieschi’s technique in painting the wall of the Palazzo Ducale, it also lacks his master’s verve, and Albotto’s figures appear to be out of scale with the buildings that surround them.
4 Mariette wrote : “Il se fit nommer ‘il secondo Marieschi’, et il en a épousé la veuve… Son véritable nom était François Albotto”; cited by T. Pignatti, in Bollettino dei Musei Civici Veneziani, 1965, no. 3, p. 19.
5 Moschini’s manuscript, in which ‘Albotto’ was probably mis-transcribed as ‘Alboro’, is held at the Biblioteca del Museo Correr, Venice, sec. XIX, f. 32; cited by Manzelli, under Literature, 1991, p. 20, footnote 1.