Francesco Fontebasso (Italian, 1707-1769) Fall of the Rebel Angels, circa 1736 Ink, wash, and gouache on tan laid paper 19-3/4 x 14-1/2 inches (50.2 x 36.8 cm) (sight) Property from the William A. Glaser Collection PROVENANCE: Sotheby's Online, New York, October 9, 2001, lot 950K; Acquired by the present owner from the above. In a May 6, 2002 letter to Glaser, Dr. Attilia Dorigato, then Curator of drawings and prints at the Musei Civici, Venice, mentions that their museum has a Fontebasso drawing very similar to Glaser's "except for small, negligible details." She adds that these drawings treating the theme of the Fall of Rebel Angels relate to Fontebasso's apsidal fresco in the Chiesa dell'Annunziata in Trento, a structure badly damaged during World War II (fig. 1). She notes that the fresco relating to Glaser's drawing was restored along with the others in the cycle in 1981 and is published in Marina Magrini's monograph on the artist (Francesco Fontebasso (1707-1769), Vicenza, 1988, illustrated in black and white Fig. 12, pp. 24-25). Magrini (op. cit.) observed of Fontesbasso's depiction that it was "a subject perhaps inspired by the work of Tiepolo in the archbishop's palace of Udine. The convulsed bodies of the archangels, transformed into demons, precipitate with a dramatic effect and strong chiaroscuro. Frequent references can be seen to Giambattista [Tiepolo] and [Sebastiano] Ricci...in the attitude of the angel who hovers diagonally." HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice