* Francesco Albotto Venice 1721-1757

These two grand and brightly colored views of Venice would appear to be grand works by Francesco Albotto, the most able pupil and collaborator of Michele Marieschi.  Albotto had entered the workshop of his master as a young boy, and took over the older artist’s workshop at his death in 1743, even going so far as to marry his widow the following year. 

The present pair of pictures represents two classic views of Venice.  The Fondaco dei Turchi on the Grand Canal was the special building set aside by the Serenissima for Turkish merchants with whom the Venetians, when they were not at war with them, enjoyed a lively and advantageous trade.  It acted as a warehouse and office for the Turks there.  Now housing the Museo di Storia Naturale, the palazzo itself dates to the 13^th Century, built by Giacomo Palmieri, a nobleman from Pesaro.  Later it became the residence of the Duke of Ferrara, and was eventually acquired by the Republic as lodging for important foreigners.  These included, most ironically given the Fondaco’s later incarnation, the Byzantine Emperor John Paleologos.  Finally, in the Seventeenth century it was given over to the Turkish community.  In order to do so, however, certain modifications were made, explaining its somewhat unusual façade as seen in the present painting.  As the Turks were Muslim, it was decided that their exterior windows should be walled up for modesty’s sake, with natural light centered around an interior courtyard.  The building was rented to Turkey until 1838 at which point the structure was in extremis.  Extensive restorations and rebuildings were carried out in the mid-19^th Century which vastly changed the front of the building.  To the left is the Deposito del Megio, or Granary.

The pendant picture shows a view of the Grand Canal from in front of the church of Santa Croce (destroyed in 1810 with its monastery to make way for the Giardino Communale).  The dome of the church of San Simeone Piccolo is show in the middle of the composition and in the far distance, the campanile of the Church of San Geremia.  The view was a favorite one among the Venetian vedutisti, and was first popularized by Canaletto himself.

The paintings in fact exemplify the attributional questions within the corpus of Albotto’s work.  The quality of the present pair has lead to the suggestion that they are by Marieschi himself, or at least that they represent a collaboration between the two artists.  The composition of the painting with the Fondaco is certainly one that Marieschi himself painted at least two times (see R. Toledano, Michele Marieschi, Milan 1995, p. 114, cat nos. 39a and 39b), if from a viewpoint very slightly closer to the edge of the canal, thus also excluding the palazzo at the right. Those paintings would appear to date before 1736, based on architectural reasons.  Montecuccoli degli Erri and Pedrocco (see Michele Marieschi, Milan 1999, p. 248 passim) notice that these two paintings include the detail of marble blocks on the Piazza Marcuola for the facing of the church of San Marcuoloa—not seen in the picture— that was left abruptly unfinished in that year.  That would give us a terminus post quem for the present picture, and as there appears to be no signs of construction materiel in the piazza, it should date to some time after.  This would be supported by the scaffolding on the Fondaco’s façade which exists in the present canvas, and a chimney pot that is missing.  The View of the Grand Canal from Santa Croce, on the other hand, would appear to be based on a painting by Canaletto, painted in the early 1730’s, and engraved by Visentini in 1742.