Francesco Salvator Fontebasso

(Venice 1709-1769)

The Family of Darius before Alexander

Footnotes

Provenance
Ca' Zenobio, Santa Bona
The Alverà Collection, Venice by 1929
Sale, Christie's New York, 4 November 1986, lot 172 (as one of a pair)
Sale, Christie's London, 25 April 2001, lot 146 (as one of a pair)
With Galleria Bosoni, Milan, where purchased by the present owners

Literature
G. Dolcetti, Villa Elisa a Santa Bona, Venice, 1911
Il Settecento italiano, exh. cat. Venice, 1929, p. 70 (according to Magrini)
E. Martini, La pittura del settecento veneto, Udine, 1982, pp. 525-526
M. Magrini, Francesco Fontebasso, Vicenza, 1988, p. 147, cat. no. 74, ill. fig. 101, pl. VII

The Family of Darius before Alexander and its erstwhile partner, Alexander addressing his troops formed part of a decorative cycle which took as its inspiration stories from classical history. The pair, amongst others, hung on the second floor of Ca' Zenobio, Santa Bona, near Treviso. The pictures are first recorded in the last will and testament of Stefano Uccelli, written on 2 April 1767, and then later in the inventory compiled on 9 January 1769 of the contents of the villa.

Uccelli, a wealthy employee of the Procuratoria di San Marco, had acquired the villa in 1744 and was responsible for completely remodifying the existing palace and installing a new decorative scheme throughout the interior. Fontebasso is known to have been employed to complete a cycle of frescos at Ca' Zenobio in the 1750s and in her catalogue entry Magrini suggests a dating of just before this for The Family of Darius before Alexander.

During the First World War, the pair was removed for safekeeping and was replaced by mirrors which remain in situ today. Other works from the original decorative cycle can be found in the Sorlini collection, Venice.