Francesco Fontebasso Biography
Francesco Fontebasso (Venice, 1707-1769) was one of the greatest exponents of Rococo and protagonist of the extraordinary pictorial season of the Venetian eighteenth century. He is part of the "traveling painters" who, together with Ricci, Pellegrini, Rosalba, Tiepolo, Canaletto and Bellotto, ensured a European role for the city's art. Still considered today an excellent fresco painter, skilled decorator, and master of painting, Fontebasso demonstrated great technical skills both in his graphic and pictorial production, ranging from scenes of daily life to devotional paintings, from historical depictions to portraits.
His artistic training began in the workshop of Sebastiano Ricci, who would constitute his stable reference for his entire career. This training was completed in Rome, at the Accademia di San Luca (1728) and in Bologna, where the Emilian quadraturist tradition prevalent in his works remained constant. Returning to Venice, he allowed himself to be influenced by the young Giambattista Tiepolo, working on important religious commissions such as in the Jesuit church where he created two sections of the ceiling with "Elijah Kidnapped into Heaven" and "The Angels Appear to Abraham" (1734).
The happiest period of his career came around the middle of the century when, thanks to Tiepolo's distance or unavailability, he became one of the painters most requested by the Venetian nobility for large-scale decoration. The Duodos, the Bernardis, the Boldùs, the Barbarigos and the Contarinis turned to him to stage joyful compositions on the ceilings of their homes and in their country villas. In 1759, he obtained another important commission in Trento for 19 canvases inspired by the Old and New Testaments.
After the trip to Russia, the production of Fontebasso's last years presents smoother forms, as in the series of four canvases from the church of San Francesco della Vigna (1765), in which there is a stylistic stiffening aimed at images of cold elegance, well far from previous creations of pulsating and tangible concreteness. His election to the Presidency of the Academy of Venice in 1768 established him among the leaders of the Venetian school.
