(Belluno 1676–1730)
A river landscape with shepherds and fishermen, with a village beyond,
tempera on card, 32 x 47 cm, framed

We are grateful to Mauro Lucco for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis on a high resolution digital photograph.

According to Abbot Girardi, a biographer, Marco Ricci studied with his uncle, Sebastiano Ricci, excelling in the depiction of landscapes (see P. E. Girardi, Descrizione de’ cartoni disegnati da Carlo Cignani e de’ quadri dipinti da Sebastiano Ricci posseduti dal Signor Giuseppe Smith Console della Gran Bretagna, Venice 1749, p. 74). He also studied with Antonio Francesco Peruzzini, the landscape painter who often collaborated with Sebastiano Ricci at the end of the 17th century. 

Marco’s artistic influence also derived from the 16th century tradition of Venetian landscape painting, known through the study of Titian, Domenico Campagnola and Nicolò Boldrini: on the basis of their example, the artist discovered the new expressive potential of landscape painting, a genre which, in 17th century Italy, had found its models in the scenes of innocence, solemnity and nostalgic beauty that characterised the works of Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain and Gaspard Dughet. 

The compositional structure of the present painting and the light that pervades the composition, together with accompanying unfolding of the hilly landscape from the semi-darkness in the foregroud to the depiction of the watercourse under a sky with clouds can be compared to other works by Marco Ricci.