Studio of Giambattista Pittoni Venice 1687 - 1767

The composition derives from Pittoni's large painting hanging in the 'Camerone Nobile' in Palazzo Taverna a Monte Giordano, Rome, executed in circa 1730-32 (370 by 680 cm.; reproduced in F. Zava Boccazzi, Pittoni, Venice 1979, pp. 155-6, cat. no. 166, fig. 271). The design is known in a couple of autograph replicas, namely that in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. 563), and its variant in the Akron Art Institute in Akron, Ohio (inv. 59.1), as well as a number of studio versions (for the Paris and Ohio pictures see Zava Boccazzi, op. cit., cat. nos. 145 and 1, figs. 274 and 278 respectively. Studio replicas are in private collections in Turin and Treviso; ibid., cat. nos. 196 and S.17, reproduced figs. 281 and 280 respectively).

An attribution to Anton Kern (1709-1747) has been suggested on the basis of photographs by Prof. Lino Moretti, to whom we are grateful. Of German origin, Kern was working in Pittoni's studio in Venice from 1723 to 1730, where he is recorded as a copyist.