Lot 272: JACOPO FABRIS VENICE 1689-1761 COPENHAGEN

AN ARCHITECTURAL CAPRICCIO WITH FIGURES CONVERSING ON THE PIAZZA

measurements note
76.2 by 91.2 cm.; 30 by 36 in.

signed lower right: ja: Fabris fecit.

oil on canvas, in a carved and gilt wood frame

NOTE

This is a rare signed work by Fabris who specialised in painting architectural capriccios, often composing them of both real and imaginary buildings. Little biographical information on Fabris is known, but he was born in Venice and travelled widely in Italy, notably to Rome and Naples, and died aged seventy-two in Copenhagen. His work has often been confused with that of both Francesco Tironi and Antonio Joli; see, for example, his view of Piazza Navona sold London, Christie's, 11 December 2002, lot 105 (for £40,000), which was re-attributed to Fabris by Antonio Morassi on finding a signed version of the composition in Schloss Fredenburg. With an increasing number of signed works coming to light, his oeuvre can now be more precisely defined.