CIRCLE OF DOMENICO FEDELI, CALLED MAGGIOTTO (VENICE 1713-1794)

CIRCLE OF DOMENICO FEDELI, CALLED MAGGIOTTO (VENICE 1713-1794)
Portrait of a young boy with Rosary beads and a staff
oil on canvas
36 x 46 cm (14 1/4 x 18 in.)
overall framed: 66.5 x 57 cm (26 1/4 x 22 1/2 in.)

Domenico Maggiotto, one of the artists active in the Venetian workshop of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682-1754). Piazzetta produced many large drawings similar to the present sheet depicting either portraits of real people or generic heads (teste di carattere). These drawings were sold as independent works of art and avidly collected. Piazzetta’s pupils followed closely in his footsteps creating drawings so similar in subject matter and technique that they often are mistaken as by the master’s own hand