Sebastiano Ricci was born in Belluno on August 1, 1659, the son of Andreana and Livio Ricci. He is considered one of the most important Venetian painters of his time and distinguished himself with paintings of religious, mythological and historical motifs from antiquity. He usually left the elaboration of the backgrounds to his trained nephew Marco Ricci (1676 - 1730), who understood landscapes better than Sebastiano Ricci himself, whose speciality was portraits.
Ricci himself studied under Federico Cervelli (1625 - before 1700) and Sebastiano Mazzoni (1611 - 1678). In 1678 Ricci was arrested because he was accused of poisoning a young woman whom he had unintentionally impregnated in order to avoid a wedding. Ricci was released through the intervention of a nobleman, married the mother of his daughter and moved with both to Bologna, where he painted religious motifs as commissioned works. Ricci left his wife and daughter in 1688 to go to Turin with the daughter of the painter Giovanni Peruzzini (1629-1694). He was again thrown into prison and then freed by the Duke of Parma, who hired him. After the death of the Duke, his protector, Ricci returned to Venice in 1698, where he lived for a decade. However, some of his works led him away from Venice. In 1701 he painted a fresco of the Resurrection in the Santi XII Apostoli in Rome and in 1702 he designed the dining room of Schönbrunn Palace.
Ricci's most important creative period is his time in Florence from 1706 to 1708 and the following three years in Venice. Among other things, Venus takes a branch from Adonis, Madonna with Child and Moses saved from the Nile. He was then employed by Lord Burlington (1694-1753) in London, for whom he painted Cupido and Jove, Bacchus meets Ariadne, Diana and Nymphs, Bacchus and Ariadne, Venus and Cupido, Diane and Endymion and Cupido and Floran. Further commissions followed before Ricci and his nephew left London for Paris in 1716. Now a wealthy man, Ricci returned to Venice in 1718, where he died in 1734.
Sebastiano Ricci was born in Belluno on August 1, 1659, the son of Andreana and Livio Ricci. He is considered one of the most important Venetian painters of his time and distinguished himself with paintings of religious, mythological and historical motifs from antiquity. He usually left the elaboration of the backgrounds to his trained nephew Marco Ricci (1676 - 1730), who understood landscapes better than Sebastiano Ricci himself, whose speciality was portraits.
Ricci himself studied under Federico Cervelli (1625 - before 1700) and Sebastiano Mazzoni (1611 - 1678). In 1678 Ricci was arrested because he was accused of poisoning a young woman whom he had unintentionally impregnated in order to avoid a wedding. Ricci was released through the intervention of a nobleman, married the mother of his daughter and moved with both to Bologna, where he painted religious motifs as commissioned works. Ricci left his wife and daughter in 1688 to go to Turin with the daughter of the painter Giovanni Peruzzini (1629-1694). He was again thrown into prison and then freed by the Duke of Parma, who hired him. After the death of the Duke, his protector, Ricci returned to Venice in 1698, where he lived for a decade. However, some of his works led him away from Venice. In 1701 he painted a fresco of the Resurrection in the Santi XII Apostoli in Rome and in 1702 he designed the dining room of Schönbrunn Palace.
Ricci's most important creative period is his time in Florence from 1706 to 1708 and the following three years in Venice. Among other things, Venus takes a branch from Adonis, Madonna with Child and Moses saved from the Nile. He was then employed by Lord Burlington (1694-1753) in London, for whom he painted Cupido and Jove, Bacchus meets Ariadne, Diana and Nymphs, Bacchus and Ariadne, Venus and Cupido, Diane and Endymion and Cupido and Floran. Further commissions followed before Ricci and his nephew left London for Paris in 1716. Now a wealthy man, Ricci returned to Venice in 1718, where he died in 1734.
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