Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries
Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries
Francesco Fontebasso
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.
sale, London, Sotheby’s, The Collection of David Daniels, 25 April 1978, lot 35
M. Magrini, Francesco Fontebasso (1707-1769), Vicenza 1988, p. 137, under no. 45;
M. Magrini, 'Francesco Fontebasso: i disegni', Saggi e memorie di storia dell'arte, vol. 17, 1990, p. 179, no. 68, p. 364, fig. 88, reproduced and p. 172, under no. 13
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