The conservation of Sebastiano Ricci’s Madonna and Child with Saints has been sponsored by The Richard Pollock Charitable Trust

Celebrated as the manifesto of a new artistic age, Sebastiano Ricci’s altarpiece in the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore stands among the defining masterpieces of 18th-century Venetian painting. Here, Ricci forged a dazzling visual language that fused the luminous grandeur of Paolo Veronese with the dynamism and emotional intensity of Annibale Carracci. The result is bold and transformative: light floods the composition, color vibrates across the canvas, and movement replaces stillness. In this extraordinary altarpiece, the Baroque gives way to something entirely new—the triumphant dawn of the Rococo.

The painting decorates the altar of the Bolani Chapel, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul and located on the right side of the presbytery. The chapel was likely completed by 1583, shortly after the deaths of both its patron, Domenico Bollani, Bishop of Brescia, and the architect Andrea Palladio. Originally adorned with an altarpiece by Federico Cervelli, installed in 1609, the altar acquired a far more ambitious centerpiece nearly a century later. In 1708, Cervelli’s painting was replaced by Ricci’s monumental canvas, a date proudly recorded on the painted pedestal supporting the Virgin’s throne. The artist’s careful preparation of the commission is documented by a highly finished bozzetto, now preserved in the Musée National des Beaux-Arts in Algeria, which reveals the principal compositional ideas already firmly established before work began on the final canvas.

Ricci organizes the composition along a powerful diagonal that draws the viewer’s gaze upward toward the celestial vision unfolding in the upper left corner. There, the Madonna and Child are enthroned upon a lofty stone pedestal beneath a billowing cloth of honor suspended from a colonnade. Around them gathers a heavenly assembly of saints, while playful putti glide through the air, infusing the scene with movement, light, and vitality. Along the ascending axis from Saint Peter to the Virgin stand Saint Gerardo Sagredo and Saint Scholastica; on the opposite side, clustered around the Christ Child, is a group of saints whose identities remain only partially understood. While Saint Jerome can be identified with certainty, the others may include Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint Dominic, Saint Benedict, and an unidentified saint. United by flowing rhythms, luminous color, and a masterful orchestration of space, these figures transform the altarpiece into a radiant vision of heavenly glory.

The composition reveals Ricci’s profound engagement with the great masters of the past. Its underlying structure is deeply indebted to Veronese’s Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, painted in 1571 for the high altar of Santa Caterina and today in the Gallerie dell’Accademia. The sweeping diagonal, elevated throne, architectural backdrop, hanging canopy, and fluttering putti all echo Veronese’s unmistakable visual language. Yet Ricci also looked to Annibale Carracci’s Madonna of Saint Matthew (1588), formerly in Modena, which transformed Veronese’s model into a more animated and emotionally charged composition. Ricci embraced this dynamism, particularly in the foreground, where the poses and compositional arrangement of Saint Peter, the angel, and Saint Paul are directly inspired by Carracci’s invention, yet transformed through a new sense of movement, light, and vitality.

Nowhere is this synthesis more evident than in the figures of Saints Peter and Paul, among the most compelling protagonists of the scene. Peter kneels before the Virgin in a moment of profound devotion. One sandal has slipped from his foot, his miter lies abandoned on the stone steps, and the great keys of his office, suspended from a red ribbon, seem moments away from being set aside. His gaze is fixed entirely on the Madonna and Child, so absorbed in the sacred vision that he appears oblivious to Saint Gerardo Sagredo, who turns toward him in animated conversation. On the opposite side, Saint Paul is equally engrossed, though in a quieter and more contemplative manner. Leaning over a large open book resting on the pedestal of the Virgin’s throne, he appears immersed in study, while the hilt of his sword ingeniously holds the pages in place. Between the two apostles, Ricci introduces a delightful note of levity: a graceful putto who turns outward to meet the viewer’s gaze while tuning a lyre, inviting us into the radiant world of the painting.

The conservation treatment will focus on recovering the chromatic balance and overall legibility of Ricci’s altarpiece. The intervention will begin with a controlled surface cleaning aimed at removing accumulated grime, oxidized varnishes, and other surface deposits that currently alter the tonal relationships and obscure the luminosity of the painting. Areas of paint loss will then be filled with conservation-grade stucco and carefully leveled to re-establish the continuity of the pictorial surface. The resulting lacunae will be reintegrated through reversible pictorial retouching, calibrated to restore visual coherence. The treatment will conclude with the application of a protective varnish, designed to saturate the colors, unify the surface appearance, and ensure the long-term preservation of the restored work.

Sebastiano Ricci (1659 – 1734)
Madonna and Child with Saints
1708, oil on canvas
400 x 205 cm

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Daniels, Jeffery. Sebastiano Ricci. Hove: Wayland Publishers, 1976, p. 129-130 no. 453

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Rizzi, Aldo. Sebastiano Ricci. Milan: Electa, 1989, p. 108 no. 28

Scarpa, Annalisa. Sebastiano Ricci. Milan: Bruno Alfieri Editore, 2006, pp. 321-322 no. 508