(Venice 1721–1757)
Figures in a landscape with ruins,
oil on canvas, 51 x 73 cm, framed

Provenance:
Formerly estate of Mr and Mrs Jesse S. Charlton, U.S.A.

As is the case with many of Albotto’s works, the composition derives from a painting by his master Michele Marieschi (1710-1743) (see F. Montecuccoli degli Erri and F. Pedrocco, Michele Marieschi: La vita, l’ambiente, l’opera, Milan, 1999, pp. 398-9, no. 169, ill.).

Six other versions are listed by Mario Manzelli as the work of Albotto, including those in the Galleria Campori, Modena, and in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nîmes (see M. Manzelli, Michele Marieschi e il suo alter-ego Francesco Albotto, Venice, 1991, pp. 101-2, nos. A.62.1-5 and 7, pls. A.62.3-4; 2nd ed., Venice, 2002, pp. 145-6, nos. A.62.01-05 and 07, figs. A.62.01 and 03-04; for an illustration of the painting in Nîmes, see the catalogue of the exhibition Venise au dix-huitième siècle: Peintures, dessins et gravures des collections françaises, Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, 1971, p. 100, no. 118, as Michele Marieschi). Another was offered at Dorotheum, Vienna, 14 April 2005, lot 23. One, of lesser quality, sold at Sotheby’s, Monte Carlo, 8 December 1984, lot 329, as by Marieschi, was sold (with a pendant) at Sotheby’s, London, 7 July 2011, lot 353, as Workshop of Marieschi (£49,250). The figures in this painting, apart from the woman in the foreground, differ from all the other versions, as does the dog towards the left.