Francesco Fontebasso

This finely preserved sheet comes from an album of at least 61 drawings which was dispersed in the early 1920s by the London art dealer Meatyard. All sheets from the album bear vertical lines, as in a ledger, indicating the volume was an account book and are also numbered in the upper right corner, with the highest known numbering being 61.¹Though Meatyard sold the drawings as by Sebastiano Ricci, they were convincingly reattributed to Fontebasso by James Byam Shaw in 1954.²

The present work is a particularly fine example with the grouping of three figures more elaborate than the majority of comparable works from this group, which typically feature single figures.

1. see M. Magrini, 'Francesco Fontebasso - I Disegni', in Saggi e Memorie, XVII, 1990, no. 143, fig. 164

2. J. Byam Shaw, 'The Drawings of Francesco Fontebasso', Arte Veneta, 1954