Francesco Fontebasso Venice 1707 - 1769

As suggested by Prof. Lino Moretti, to whom we are grateful, this painting is almost certainly a bozzetto or modelletto for Fontebasso's altarpiece of the same subject which originally hung in the sacristy of the church of San Paterniano, Venice. The painting, now lost and possibly destroyed, is described by Anton Maria Zanetti in his Descrizione di tutte le pubbliche pitture della città di Venezia..., Venice 1733, p. 183:  "La tavola [i.e. altarpiece] collo sposalizio di S. Caterina, e S. Teresa è opera di Francesco Fontebasso" (see also M. Magrini, Francesco Fontebasso (1707-1769), Vicenza 1988, p. 255, cat. no. 21P, under 'Lost works'). The unusual subject matter - in particular the combination of these two saints - suggests that an identification with the present composition is likely. The church, which was destroyed in 1871 to make space for the Campo Manin, was suppressed in 1807 whereupon all the paintings were removed. The best among them are now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia whilst the lesser paintings were either sold, relocated in some of the poorer churches around Venice, or destroyed: the destiny of Fontebasso's altarpiece is unclear.