A profile of the Venetian patrician Alessandro Marcello as a painter and engraver is outlined here for the
first time. Alessandro, brother of the more famous Benedetto, was also a musician and a poet (he joined the
Academy of Arcadia), as well as a scientist and mathematician: an emblem of the typical Eighteenth-century
amateur, open to the most varied experiences. Antonio Maria Zanetti drawed an amusing caricature of him.
Alessandro was friend with Rosalba Carriera, who painted his portrait; he executed some frescoes in the
church of the Magdalene and in his palace (here illustrated), a series of paintings with Putti engaging in
playful scenes, documented by archival findings also published here. A medal with his portrait is indicative
of the fame he had achieved in the early Eighteenth century: most interestingly, it presents, on the reverse, a
tree with different flowers and fruits, a sign of its interests in various fields.
