Lot 116: Francesco Albotto , Venice 1721-1757 View of Santa Maria della Salute, Venice oil on canvas

oil on canvas

measurements note 24 1/2 by 38 in.; 62 by 96.5 cm.

R. Toledano, Michele Marieschi, l'opera completa, Milan 1988, p. 86 cat. no. V.13.5 (as by Michele Marieschi);
D. Succi, Marieschi tra Canaletto e Guardi, Torino 1989, reproduced p. 190 fig. 230 (as Francesco Albotto);
M. Manzelli, Michele Marieschi e il suo alter-ego Francesco Albotto, Venice 1991, p. 79, cat no. A.11.5 (as by Francesco Albotto);
R. Toledano, Michele Marieschi Catalogo ragionato, Milan 1995, p. 82 cat. no V.18.c (as by Michele Marieschi);
F. Montecuccoli degli Erri & F. Pedrocco, Michele Marieschi La vita, l'ambiente, l'opera, Milan 1999, under cat. no. 154 (possibly by Marieschi);
M. Manzelli, Michele Marieschi e il suo alter-ego Francesco Albotto, Venice 2002, 2nd ed., pp. 118-119, fig. A.11.05 (as by Francesco Albotto).

With Frederick Mont, New York, by 1962;
With Newhouse Gallery, New York;
From whom purchsed by the family of the present owners.

PROPERTY FROM A CALIFORNIA ESTATE
One of the primary sights of the city of Venice, the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute was the masterpiece of Baldassare Longhena, the preeminent architect of the Venetian Baroque. It was erected at the commission of the city government to commemorate the relief of Venice from the outbreak of the plague that devastated a large part of Northern Italy from 1629-31. Nearly a third of the republic's population was lost in the epidemic, and the site for the church, at the intersection of the Giudecca and Grand canals, was at the very heart of the city, a constant reminder to citizens and visitors alike of the deliverance of the Serenissima from what would be one of the last great outbreaks of the disease. This painting exemplifies the attributional questions that still exist within the corpus of Albotto's work and that of his master Michele Marieschi. The very high quality of the painting has lead some scholars to suggest that it is, in fact, a work of Marieschi himself, rather than Albotto; this difference of opinion is clearly reflected in the publication history of the present work (see literature). The view itself, an almost direct, full-frontal portrait of the Salute, was indeed a specialty of Marieschi, one which he replicated a number of times.υ1 Some of these Marieschi views, such as the example in the Art Institute, Chicago (inv. 1946.375), depict in the foreground of the composition the quay on the opposite side of the canal, with figures and gondole in the front plane of the picture. In this, they relate more closely to an engraving of 1741 by Marieschi of the view. Manzelli, however, publishes at least one view by Marieschi of the Salute as portrayed in the present composition, as if seen from inside a boat on the canal (or in fact, perhaps more accurately somewhat above the water so as to render the full impact of the church's exceptional architecture) with the busy traffic of the waterway crowding the front of the canvas.υ2 He gives a number of this second type also to Albotto, however, including the present work. Toledano, on the other hand, considers the present work to be by Marieschi himself, and dates it to circa 1735. 1. Toledano op. cit., p. 81, under cat. no. V.18a notes that the image is derived from a print by Carlevaris, presumably the image of the church from that artist's highly influential Le fabriche e vedute di Venezia (1703) where the building is shown a similar manner.
2. Sale: Christie's, London, December 11, 1984, lot 89; cf. Manzelli, op. cit., p. 54, cat. no. M.11.3, reproduced.