|
|
Sebastiano Ricci Biography
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
Among the leading painters in Venice in the first decades of the 18th century, Sebastiano Ricci enjoyed a long and varied career.
|
|
|
|
Trained first in Venice and later in Bologna, Ricci’s early independent career was spent working in Bologna, Piacenza, Parma and Rome, where he was active between about 1687 and 1694.
|
|
|
|
After several years in Lombardy and the Veneto, during which time he also undertook important commissions in Rome and Vienna, Ricci arrived in Florence in 1704, where he decorated a room in the Palazzo Pitti and worked at the Palazzo Marucelli.
|
|
|
|
In 1708 Ricci returned to Venice, painting among other important works an altarpiece for the church of San Giorgio Maggiore.
|
|
|
|
The years from 1712 to 1716 were spent with his nephew Marco Ricci in England, where he received important commissions from Lord Burlington and the Duke of Portland.
|
|
|
|
For the former, Ricci painted several large canvases for Burlington House in London (now the Royal Academy of Arts), and Chiswick House, while for the latter he worked at Portland House and Bulstrode House in Buckinghamshire.
|
|
|
|
He also painted an altarpiece of the Resurrection for the chapel of the Chelsea Royal Hospital in London but was unable, however, to win the commission to decorate the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
|
|
|
|
In 1716 the two Riccis returned to Venice, where Sebastiano worked for the remainder of his career.
|
|
|
|
He continued to paint altarpieces for Venetian churches, decorative works for villas and palaces, and easel pictures for private patrons; paintings which, like much of the artist’s mature oeuvre, can arguably be credited with the creation of the Venetian Rococo.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|