SEBASTIANO RICCI (Italian, 1659-1734). MARY MAGDALEN ANOINTING THE FEET OF CHRIST, signed and dated 1713 lower right. Oil on canvas - Framed, 22 in. x 20 in. Estimate $10,000-15,000
Sebastiano Ricci was in England from 1712 to 1717, seeking large-scale commissions for public and private buildings. The current lot, dated 1713, was painted as a bozzetto, or sketch, perhaps to present to a patron. Another version of this composition exists, once at Morlake Parish Church, London, a gift of Benjamin Vandergucht in 1794, and now at the Kunsthaus, Zurich, (see Annalisa Scarpa, Sebastiano Ricci, Milan 2006, cat. No. 561). Scarpa suggests that the Kunsthaus painting is related to Ricci's different and later treatment of the same subject for Consul Joseph Smith, now at Hampton Court, Royal Collection. Scarpa also lists a lost painting of the same subject (cat. No. P/47) once in the collection of Henry Hoare at Stourhead, Wiltshire, mentioned by Horace Walpole in 1762 and listed in inventories in 1785.
Lined. Paint thin in some areas, old varnish embedded in surface in scattered areas. Vertical line of restoration at left extending through drapery at top to spaniel's head at bottom, also horizontal line from drapery through columns, and in sky in adjacent areas, one across the chest of central figure holding cup, and areas in tablecloth. UV: Heavy, uneven varnish obscures flourescence of inpainting.
