Christ Surrounded by Angels
Christ Surrounded by Angels
- Artist
- Sebastiano Ricci
- Artist Dates
- 1659-1734
- Artist Nationality
- Italian
- Title
- Christ Surrounded by Angels
- Date
- c. 1712-16
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 100.6 x 126 cm (39-5/8 x 49-5/8 in)
- K Number
- K1814
- Repository
- Columbia Museum of Art
- Accession Number
- CMA 1954.41
- Notes
Provenance
William Pleydell-Bouverie, 7th Earl Radnor [1895-1968], Longford Castle, Wiltshire, England; (his sale, Christie's London, 27 July 1945, no. 41); (Weil). (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi [1878-1955] Rome-Florence); sold to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation on 1 July 1950; gift to the Columbia Museum of Art in 1961, no. CMA 1954.441.
Catalogue Entry
Sebastiano Ricci
Christ Surrounded by Angels
K1814
Columbia, S.C., Columbia Museum of Art (54-402/22), since 1954.(1) Canvas. 39 5/8 x 49 5/8 in. (100.6 x 126 cm.). Good condition. This is one of two known sketches, sometimes referred to as modelli, for the still extant painting by Ricci in the semidome over the altar in the chapel at Chelsea Hospital, London.(2) The other sketch, slightly smaller than K1814, but closely similar in all other respects, is in Dulwich College Art Gallery, near London. The painting at Chelsea(3) follows these sketches with but slight variation. Since the accounts (unfortunately not dated) for this work show that the payments were made to Sebastian's nephew Marco, it has been conjectured that the Chelsea commission dates early in Sebastiano's sojourn in England, where Marco had been longer and so was probably more familiar with the language and customs.(4) In any case, the date should fall within the four years from 1712 to 1716, now convincingly established for Sebastiano's English period.(5) Provenance: Lord Radnor, London (sold, Christie's, London, July 27, 1945, no. 41, as Sebastiano; bought by Weil). Contini Bonacossi, Florence. Kress acquisition, 1950 –exhibited, after entering the Columbia Museum of Art: 'Sebastiano and Marco Ricci in America,' Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, Tenn., Dec. 19, 1965-Jan. 23, 1966, and University of Kentucky Art Gallery, Lexington, Ky., Feb. 13-Mar. 6, 1966, no. 13 of catalogue by M. Milkovich, as Sebastiano Ricci.
References
(1) Catalogue by W. E. Suida, 1954, p. 53, and by A. Contini Bonacossi, 1962, pp. 119 f., as Sebastiano Ricci. (2) K1814 has been attributed to Sebastiano (as a sketch for the Chelsea Hospital painting) by R. Longhi (in ms. opinion), A. Blunt (opinion quoted in a letter of Nov. 5, 1953, in the Kress Foundation archives, from G. Kelly), R. Pallucchini (La Pittura veneziana del settecento, 1960, p. 14), G. M. Pilo (in Arte Veneta, vol. XX, 1966, p. 305), and J. Daniels (in Apollo, July 1969, pp. 6, 9 n. 1). (3) Reproduced by Contini Bonacossi, p. 120 of op. cit. in note 1, above. (4) This explanation is offered by F. J. B. Watson, in Joumal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, vol. LXI, 1954, p. 174. Pilo (loc. cit. in note 2, above) dates K1814 toward the end of Sebastiano's English period, and Longhi (in ms. opinion), following J. V. Derschau (Sebastiano Ricci, 1922, p. 86) in dating Sebastiano's English period 1708-17, places K1814 between these dates. For the now preferred chronology of this period, i.e., 1712-16, see Osti, loc. cit. in note 5, below. (5) See O. Osti, in Commentari, vol. II, 1951, pp. 119 f.; and Watson, pp. 173 f. of op. cit. in note 4, above.