Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries
Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries
Bacchus and Ariadne
Auction Closed
January 25, 04:44 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Francesco Fontebasso
Venice 1707 - 1769
Bacchus and Ariadne
Pen and brown ink within partial ink framing lines, the corners scalloped
288 by 445 mm; 11⅜ by 17½ in.
Though this large and beautifully preserved sheet cannot yet be securely connected to a surviving painting or decorative project, Magrini noted its evident stylistic similarities with Fontebasso's series of engravings, the Varii Baccanali, thus providing a probable dating to the mid-1740s.1 The subject of Bacchus and Ariadne was one that the artist approached on a number of occasions, most notably in a painting in a private collection, Florence, published by Magrini in 1988, where she observed the similarities between it and the present work.2
1. Magrini, loc. cit., 1990
2. Magrini, loc. cit., 1988