Sebastiano Ricci

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Sebastiano Ricci on a portrait by Rosalba Carriera (Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe)

Sebastiano Ricci (baptized August 1, 1659 in Belluno , † May 15, 1734 in Venice ) was an Italian baroque painter . He is considered one of the most important Venetian painters of his time and had an international career that not only took him to other parts of Italy, but also to Vienna , London and Paris .

His surname has only been generally spelled with "-cc-" since the 20th century; it was actually Rizzi with "-zz-" (which also has a different pronunciation).

Sebastiano trained with his nephew Marco Ricci , with whom he worked especially after 1710 and to whom he often left the scenery or landscapes in his paintings, as was often the case in painters' workshops.

biography

Sebastiano Ricci: Abraham and the Three Angels , Louvre, Paris, 1690s (?)

Sebastiano was born in Belluno to Livio Rizzi and his wife Andreana.

At the age of about 13 he went to Venice and, according to Pellegrino Antonio Orlandi ( Abecedario pittorico , Venice 1704, p. 95), was a pupil of Federico Cervelli (1638 - before 1700), who came from Milan , and very probably also of Sebastiano Mazzoni (Florence, 1611 - Venice, before 1678)

Ricci had a rather eventful life and was repeatedly dragged into turbulence by women’s stories: in 1681 two young women in Venice became pregnant by him at the same time, the 17-year-old Antonia Maria Venanzio, to whom he promised to marry, and one Marietta Bellandis (Moretti, 1978, p. 98). According to Camillo Sagrestani, Ricci is said to have tried to poison Antonia Maria (whom he actually married in 1684) and therefore fled to Bologna in the same year in 1681 . Today, however, it is believed that after the death of his master Mazzoni he was looking for new inspiration and commissions there. In any case, Ricci was not in Venice for the next 15 years, but repeatedly in other cities in Italy.

He lived in Bologna from 1681 to 1685 and came into contact with the Emilian art of Guido Reni , Carracci , Carlo Cignani , Domenico Maria Canuti and Ferdinando Bibiena .

From December 1685 Ricci was in Parma , where he received various commissions from churches and for Duke Ranuccio II Farnese at least two paintings for a cycle of pictures on the story of Pope Paul III. painted in the Palazzo Farnese in Piacenza ( apotheosis of Paul III and papal audience ).

Sebastiano Ricci: Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane , Kunsthistorisches Museum , Vienna, ca.1730 (?)

When the painter was back in Bologna in 1688, he began a fatal relationship with Maddalena Peruzzini (the painter's daughter), with whom he fled to Turin . There he was charged with bigamy and kidnapping ( rapimento ) and sentenced to death. But the verdict was overturned through the mediation of the Duke of Parma, on the condition that Ricci never return to Bologna. He fled to Ranuccio's court in Parma, where he created the sets for the festival opera Il favore degli Dei in the Teatro Farnese for the wedding of Odoardo II Farnese in 1690 . On March 2, 1691, Ranuccio appointed him " servitor familiare ", an honorary title that was renewed in 1701 by Francesco Farnese .

On April 12, 1691, Sebastiano was in Rome, where the Farnese let him live in their Palazzo ( Farnese) so that he could admire the most important work by Annibale Carracci in the gallery there . In the Eternal City, he also took inspiration from Pietro da Cortona , Andrea Pozzo and Baciccia . Ricci's Roman works include the allegory of the Battle of Lepanto on the ceiling of the Salone dei Paesaggi in the Palazzo Colonna (1693–1695), the death of St. Joseph in San Pantaleon and the ceiling fresco in the sacristy by SS. Apostoli .

Sebastiano Ricci: Sacrifice of Silenus , ca.1723

This was followed by a stay in Milan from January 1694 to September 1696 , where there was a stylistic exchange with Alessandro Magnasco ( Genoa , 1667–1749). Ricci was commissioned by the Marquis Cesare Pagani for the dome fresco of the Cappella dell'Ossario in the Milanese church of San Bernardino alle Ossa, where he describes the ascent of souls from the purgatory into heaven and the apotheoses of 4 saints in a daring, out of light and shadow modeled composition. For the Pagani collections he also painted Hercules and Nessus and the portrait of Cesare's adopted son Michele Pagani as a Turkish slave .

After Ricci had left his wife and daughter in Bologna in 1688, he married Maddalena Vendramer on September 12, 1696 in Venice. A period of busy activity began in the lagoon city and its surroundings. In Venice he received commissions for the churches dell'Ascensione, San Marziale and San Basso, and created frescoes and paintings in Palazzo Barbaro and Palazzo Mocenigo . He also painted altarpieces and frescoes for the cathedral in Monza and in Santa Giustina in Padua .

Sebastiano Ricci: Madonna Enthroned with Saints , San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, 1708

For the Benedictine Church of SS. Cosma e Damiano on the Giudecca he created several paintings for an important cycle of paintings, the execution of which took a long time and to which other artists also contributed, including Antonio Zanchi , Piazzetta and Giambattista Tiepolo . This cycle was scattered to the wind after 1805 after the abolition of the monastery, so the individual pictures are now in different places: Ricci painted the two scenes from 1697–1698 King Solomon speaks to the people (today: Thiene Cathedral , in the depot in the gallery dell'Accademia , Venice) and transport of Noah's Ark (Parish Church of Somaglia , in Lodigiano, in the depot in the Pinacoteca di Brera , Milan); It was not until 1729 that his depiction of Moses lets water gush out of the rock was created (today Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice).

Joseph I (then Roman King ) brought Ricci to Vienna in 1702 , where he painted the ceiling fresco of what is now known as the Blue Staircase in Schönbrunn Palace . It is considered to be the first independent (= not framed by stucco) ceiling painting in Austria, on which Joseph is depicted as a hero of virtue, who strides “on a rising cloud path” to the coronation with the laurel wreath “by goddesses of light”. The room itself was originally a dining room, which was later converted into a staircase by Maria Theresa ; the name Blue Staircase refers to the sky blue of the fresco. During his stay in Vienna Ricci also worked on various paintings for Venetian clients, including an Aurora for the Palazzo Pisani and pictures for the Palazzo Corner Tacchi.

In 1704 he was back in Italy and painted frescoes in the Palazzo Fulcis in Belluno , as well as an altarpiece The St. Procolo, Fermo and Rustico for the Cathedral of Bergamo . Between 1705 and 1707 he created frescoes in five rooms of the Palazzo Marucelli in Florence , and decorations in the Palazzo Pitti (including Aurora and Cefalo ) on behalf of Ferdinando de 'Medici . He was able to deal with works by Luca Giordano, Paolo de Matteis and Francesco Solimena .

Numerous other works were created for Venice by 1711, with the support of his nephew and student Marco Ricci, who mainly painted landscapes and architectural backgrounds in his uncle's works.

Sebastiano Ricci: Apotheosis of St. Sebastian (design), Musée des Beaux Arts, Strasbourg

The most prestigious works by Sebastiano Ricci from this period include the Madonna Enthroned with Child and Saints in San Giorgio Maggiore, completed in 1708, and the Allegory of Fama in the Doge's Palace from 1711.

His career finally took on international forms when he went to England in 1711 or early 1712, where he again worked with his nephew Marco, whose contribution to Sebastiano's English works was probably somewhat overestimated earlier. In London, Sebastiano worked around 1713 for Juliana, the widowed Countess of Burlington, (mother of the 3rd Earl of Burlington) and created a series of paintings on the subject of "Triumph of Love" for Burlington House ; the resulting works are now in the Royal Academy of Arts and Chiswick House . His large fresco of the Resurrection of Christ in the apse of the chapel of the Royal Chelsea Hospital is significant . Other works for the Earl of Portland are lost today.

Between 1715 and 1716, uncle and nephew Ricci went home to Venice, with a detour to Paris, where Sebastiano was accepted as a member of the Académie royale de peinture . His morceau de reception was the allegory of France now in the Louvre .

Back in Venice, Sebastiano received numerous commissions until the end of his life. One of his most important Venetian patrons was Marshal Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg (1661–1747), for whom Ricci created five paintings that are now in various collections (see list of works below). He also received orders from the Duke of Savoy and from Emperor Charles VI. , and like Marco Ricci was also promoted by the British merchant Joseph Smith .

Sebastiano Ricci: Adoration of the Magi , Windsor Castle, 1726-30

One of Sebastiano's most prestigious commissions in his later phase was his design for the mosaic The Transfer of the Body of St. Mark above the Fourth Portal of San Marco , which was executed in 1727 by Leopoldo dal Pozzo .

Ricci's last work is the Assumption of the Virgin Mary for the main altar of the Karlskirche in Vienna from 1734.

He also worked occasionally as a restorer , for example on Veronese's Andrea Contarini's return from Chioggia in the Doge's Palace in Venice. From 1719 he also appeared as a way operas - impresario of the theater Sant'Angelo, where among other Vivaldi operas were performed.

Sebastiano Ricci died in Venice on May 15, 1734.

In the mid-1990s, one of Ricci's early works was discovered by a happy coincidence: a letter from an English tourist who traveled to Veneto in the 17th century described two hitherto unknown salons painted with frescoes by Ricci in the Villa Giovanelli in Noventa Padovana , Padua . Thanks to the fortunate circumstance that these frescoes were whitewashed, they are now in very good condition after their complete uncovering and restoration.

Appreciation

Sebastiano Ricci's painting developed from high baroque forms to rococo . He was a brilliant colorist and developed his personal style based on the Venetian tradition with its emphasis on the picturesque. His work particularly echoes the festive, decorative, light-filled style of Paolo Veronese , but also other painters of the 16th and 17th centuries, such as Pietro Liberi or Francesco Maffei . Not least through his many travels, he also integrated elements from artists outside of Venice, from Correggio in Parma, the Carracci brothers from Bologna, the Genoese Alessandro Magnasco who worked in Milan , the Roman Pietro da Cortona to the Neapolitan Luca Giordano . In all this, Ricci's work does not seem eclectic , but despite a clear stylistic development, he found his own style. Ricci's view is completely different from that of Andrea Pozzo , the leading theoretician of perspective painting of his time. Extreme foreshortening and quadrature painting are avoided, instead the figures in his ceiling frescoes are extremely underneath.

Sebastiano Ricci is one of the earliest painters who switched from the heaviness of the Baroque to the lighter forms, slimmer figures and light-filled colors of the Rococo shortly after 1700 and in this respect has a significant pioneering position with a clear influence on younger Venetians such as Giambattista Tiepolo , Antonio Guardi and other painters, also outside of Venice.

Works

Moses defends the daughters of Jethro , Szépmüvészety Múzeum , Budapest
Sebastiano Ricci: Bacchus and Ariadne , National Gallery, London, ca.1700
Sebastiano Ricci: Bacchanal in honor of Pan , Accademia , around 1718 (?), Venice

The following selection of works by Sebastiano Ricci is arranged in chronological order.

  • Birth of St. John the Baptist , Pinacoteca nazionale , Bologna , 1682–85
  • David in front of Saul's arms , (originally for the Church of San Daniele, Verona) today: Museo di Castelvecchio , Verona (the image is trimmed on the sides), 1682–85
  • Assumption of Mary , in the oratory of the Madonna del Serraglio, in San Secondo , Parma, 1685–88
  • Pietà , Capuchin Church of Parma, 1685–88
  • Apotheosis of Paul III. and Papal Audience , Palazzo Farnese in Piacenza , ca. 1685–88
  • Allegory of the Battle of Lepanto , on the ceiling of the Salone dei Paesaggi in the Palazzo Colonna , Rome , 1693–1695
  • Death of St. Joseph , in San Pantaleon, Rome, approx. 1693–95
  • Ceiling fresco in the sacristy of SS. Apostoli , Rome, approx. 1693–95
  • Ascension of souls from the purgatory into heaven and apotheoses of 4 saints , dome frescoes in the Cappella dell'Ossario in San Bernardino alle Ossa , Milan, approx. 1694–96
  • Hercules and Nessus , private collection, ca.1696
  • Portrait of Michele Pagani as a Turkish slave , ca.1696
  • King Solomon speaks to the people , Dom von Thiene , in the depot in the Gallerie dell'Accademia , Venice (originally for SS. Cosma e Damiano on the Giudecca), 1697–98
  • Transport of Noah's Ark , parish church of Somaglia, in Lodigiano, in the depot in the Pinacoteca di Brera , Milan (originally for SS. Cosma e Damiano on the Giudecca ), 1697–98
  • The founding of the church by Queen Teodolinda , Monza Cathedral, 1697
  • Frescoes and altarpiece in Santa Giustina , Padua, 1700
  • Aurora , Palazzo Pisani, Venice, approx. 1702-04
  • Investiture of Marco Corner as Count of Zara and glorification of three heroes from the House of Corner , Palazzo Corner Tacchi, Venice, approx. 1702-04
  • Mars healed by Peone , private collection, 1703-04
  • Frescoes in the Palazzo Fulcis in Belluno , 1704
  • Altarpiece of Saints Procolo, Fermo and Rustico , Bergamo Cathedral , 1704
  • Five paintings for the Palazzo Mocenigo, Venice, 1704
  • Resurrection of Christ , Pinacoteca Egidio Martini in the Ca 'Rezzonico (originally for the Christ Chapel in San Geminiano, Venice), around 1700–1705
  • Frescoes in five rooms of the Palazzo Marucelli , Florence , 1705–07
  • Frescoes (including Aurora and Cefalo ) in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, 1705-07
  • Madonna Enthroned with Child and Saints , San Giorgio Maggiore , Venice, 1708
  • Allegory of Fama , Doge's Palace , Venice, 1711
  • Resurrection of Christ , fresco in the apse of the chapel of the Royal Chelsea Hospital, London, 1711–16
  • Resurrection of Christ , Dulwich Picture Gallery , London (presumably Bozzetto for the painting in Chelsea Hospital), ca.1711?
  • Resurrection of Christ , Columbia Museum of Art, University of South Carolina , ca.1711?
  • Painting (originally for Lord Burlington) in the Royal Academy of Arts , London, 1711–16
Sebastiano Ricci: Nymphs and Satyrs , ca.1716, Louvre, Paris
Sebastiano Ricci: Bathsheba in the bath , Gemäldegalerie Berlin , 1724-25
  • Painting (originally for Lord Burlington) in Chiswick House , London, 1711–16
  • Allegory of France , Louvre , Paris, approx. 1716-17
  • Decoration of the summer residence of Giovanni Francesco Bembo, Belluno, 1718
  • Maria Immacolata , San Vidal, Venice 1723
  • San Rocco , Ca 'Rezzonico, Venice, 1720s (?)
  • Saint Gregory frees souls from purgatory , Sant'Alessandro della Croce, Bergamo
  • The rapture of St. Therese , San Girolamo degli Scalzi, Vicenza , 1727
  • Template for Leopoldo dal Pozzo's mosaic transferring the body of St. Mark above the fourth portal of San Marco , Venice, 1727
  • Moses lets water gush out of the rock , today Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice (originally for SS. Cosma e Damiano on the Giudecca), 1729
  • Martyrdom of St. Mauritius and St. Louis of France with the crown of thorns , Basilica di Superga , Turin , 1729.
  • Venus and Adonis , private collection, Venice (originally for Marschall von der Schulenburg)
  • Diana and Endymion , whereabouts unknown (originally for Marshal von der Schulenburg)
  • Bacchanal in honor of Pan , once at the antique dealer Frezzati, Venice (originally for Marshal von der Schulenburg)
  • Festival of Silenus , once at the antique dealer Frezzati, Venice (originally for Marshal von der Schulenburg)
  • St. Michael , Dulwich College Picture Gallery , London (originally for Marshal von der Schulenburg)
  • St. Francis de Paola brings a dead child to life and St. Francis found the cross. Helena , San Rocco Church , Venice, 1732–34
  • Esther in front of Ahasver , National Gallery , London, around 1733–34
  • Assumption of Mary , main altar of the Karlskirche in Vienna, 1734

Collections of drawings:

  • Album dei disegni di Sebastiano Ricci (134 drawings), Gabinetto dei Disegni, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice,,
  • Album with 211 drawings in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle , England.

Auctions

  • 1825 in Nuremberg : Christ heals the gout-frail; whether a heavenly glory.

literature

  • Chiara Lo Giudice: Ricci, Sebastiano . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 98, de Gruyter, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-023263-9 , pp. 404-406.
  • Sebastiano Ricci , article in: Lexikon der Kunst , Volume 10, Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1994, p. 68
  • William Barcham: The Venetian Rococo - Tiepolo and the 18th Century , in: Venice - Art and Architecture , Volume II, Könemann, pp. 640–691, on Ricci especially: pp. 640, 652–653, 657–658, 662 -664
  • Elfriede Iby, Alexander Koller: Schönbrunn , Verlag Christian Brandstätter, Vienna, 2000, p. 68
  • Raffaella Poltronieri: Ricci (Rizzi), Sebastiano , in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 87 (2016), online on Treccani (Italian; accessed January 8, 2020; main source of this article)
  • Aldo Rizzi: Sebastiano Ricci disegnatore . Electa, Milan 1975.
  • Aldo Rizzi: Sebastiano Ricci . Electa, Milan 1989.
  • Frances Vivian: The Consul Smith Collection: Masterpieces of Italian Drawing from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle. From Raffael to Canaletto . Hirmer, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7774-5120-7 .

Web links

Commons : Sebastiano Ricci  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. See Moretti: Sebastiano Ricci. 1659-1734 , 2012, p. 71. Also the baptism entry (in: Joachim von Derschau, 1922, p. 168). Here after Raffaella Poltronieri: Ricci (Rizzi), Sebastiano , in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 87 (2016), online on Treccani (accessed January 8, 2020)
  2. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am Raffaella Poltronieri: Ricci (Rizzi), Sebastiano , in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 87 (2016), online on Treccani (accessed January 8, 2020)
  3. This was reported first by Tommaso Temanza (1738, 1963, p. 87); Lino Moretti (in: Sebastiano Ricci. 1659–1734, 2012, p. 72) pointed out that Sebastiano supported “his master's widow” financially and that it was apparently Mazzoni's wife. See: Raffaella Poltronieri: Ricci (Rizzi), Sebastiano , in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 87 (2016), online on Treccani (accessed January 8, 2020)
  4. ^ A. Matteoli: Le vite di artisti del secolo XVII e XVIII di Giovanni Camillo Sagrestani , in: Commentarii, XXII (1971), pp. 187-240. Here after: Raffaella Poltronieri: Ricci (Rizzi), Sebastiano , in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 87 (2016), online on Treccani (accessed on January 8, 2020)
  5. That means at least: Moretti: Sebastiano Ricci. 1659–1734, 2012. Here after: Raffaella Poltronieri: Ricci (Rizzi), Sebastiano , in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 87 (2016), online on Treccani
  6. Servants of the family or servants belonging to the family
  7. ^ A b Elfriede Iby, Alexander Koller: Schönbrunn , Verlag Christian Brandstätter, Vienna, 2000, p. 68
  8. a b c Sebastiano Ricci , on the website of the Royal Academy of Arts , London, Great Britain (English; accessed January 8, 2020)
  9. a b Sebastiano Ricci , on the website of the National Gallery of Art , Washington, USA (English; accessed January 8, 2020)
  10. a b Sebastiano Ricci , on the website of the J. Paul Getty Museum (English; accessed January 8, 2020)
  11. a b c Sebastiano Ricci , in: Lexikon der Kunst , Volume 10, Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1994, p. 68
  12. William Barcham: The Venetian Rococo - Tiepolo and 18th century , in: Venice - Art and Architecture , Volume II, Könemann, pp 640-691; on Ricci in particular: pp. 640, 652-653, 657-658, 662-664
  13. Unless otherwise stated, the list follows Raffaella Poltronieri: Ricci (Rizzi), Sebastiano , in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 87 (2016), online on Treccani (accessed January 8, 2020)
  14. LIST OF THE v.DERSCHAUISCHE Kunstkabinett zu NÜRNBERG…. Nuremberg, at the obligated auctioneer Schmidmer., 1825., 250 p., Directory of rare art collections., 1825., Google Books, online , p. 22