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Lot Essay
Painted during his brief English sojourn, this Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee, signed and dated 1713, reflects Sebastiano Ricci’s consummate synthesis of the grand Venetian tradition.
Ricci arrived in England in 1712, likely at the behest of his nephew Marco Ricci, who was already established in London. The precise motivation for his journey is uncertain though George Vertue suggested Marco’s rivalry with Giovan Antonio Pellegrini, a former pupil of Sebastiano, may have prompted the elder Ricci's relocation (G. Vertue, ‘The Notebooks of George Vertue I’, Walpole Society, VXII, 1930, p. 39.), while other sources speculate alternative motives, such as a royal commission or the proposed decoration of St. Paul’s Cathedral dome (see E. Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England, I, London, 1962, p. 72).
Regardless, Ricci quickly achieved success before departing again for Italy where he is documented in 1715: Lord Burlington commissioned a series of mythological canvases for Burlington House (now the Royal Academy), and the Duke of Portland ordered decorations for the chapel at Bulstrode House (destroyed in the mid-nineteenth century and today known from modelli; see X. Salomon, Sebastiano Ricci, il Trionofo dell'Invenzione nel Settecento Veneziano, Venice, 2010, p. 72).
The present painting—as well as The Marriage at Cana (formerly at Chiswick House and painted for Lord Burlington; inv. no. 59-2, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City)—bears Ricci’s Latinized signature ‘RICCIVS F.’, commonly found on his paintings of this period. Both works reflect Ricci’s profound engagement with Veronese, particularly recalling The Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee, painted by Veronese for the Servite Convent in Venice around 1570–73 (now in the Château de Versailles, France; fig. 1). The compositional arrangement of successive architectural planes, columns, and loggias, as well as the subject matter, the physiognomy of his figures, the dynamic brushwork, and even the whimsical peripheral details like the dog in the lower left corner directly quote Veronese. Indeed, Ricci made a copy (now lost) of Veronese's painting which sold at Christie’s in 1778, where described as ‘S. Ricci, Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee, copy after the grand painting in Venice by Veronese’ (Christie’s, London, 28 April 1778, lot 100).
Prior to the identification of this painting, the composition was known through a loosely executed version at the Kunsthaus Zürich (see C. Klemm, The Paintings of The Betty and David M. Koetser Foundation, Zürich, 1988, pp. 132-3, no. 57). That version, once owned by the painter and dealer Benjamin Vandergucht, was donated to Mortlake Parish Church in London upon his death in 1794. Christian Klemm initially proposed that it was painted in England circa 1715. However, later scholars, including Annalisa Scarpa (A. Scarpa, Sebastiano Ricci, Milan, 2006, p. 344), dated it to the mid-1720s based on a comparison with Ricci’s later paintings in the Royal Collection, acquired by George III from Consul Smith. The present signed and dated Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee supports an earlier dating for the Zürich version, further highlighting the widespread appeal of Ricci’s ‘Veronese-like’ canvases amongst his English patrons.
Given the existence of these two versions and the vague descriptions in early sale catalogues, reconstructing the early provenance with any certainty is challenging. At least three paintings of Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee by Sebastiano Ricci were sold in England during the eighteenth century: one from the collection of John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont (Langford, London, 2 May 1771, lot 40); another from the collection of John Astley (Christie’s, London, 2 May 1777, lot 48); and a third from an unidentified collection (Christie’s, London, 8 November 1783, lot 89).
Ricci arrived in England in 1712, likely at the behest of his nephew Marco Ricci, who was already established in London. The precise motivation for his journey is uncertain though George Vertue suggested Marco’s rivalry with Giovan Antonio Pellegrini, a former pupil of Sebastiano, may have prompted the elder Ricci's relocation (G. Vertue, ‘The Notebooks of George Vertue I’, Walpole Society, VXII, 1930, p. 39.), while other sources speculate alternative motives, such as a royal commission or the proposed decoration of St. Paul’s Cathedral dome (see E. Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England, I, London, 1962, p. 72).
Regardless, Ricci quickly achieved success before departing again for Italy where he is documented in 1715: Lord Burlington commissioned a series of mythological canvases for Burlington House (now the Royal Academy), and the Duke of Portland ordered decorations for the chapel at Bulstrode House (destroyed in the mid-nineteenth century and today known from modelli; see X. Salomon, Sebastiano Ricci, il Trionofo dell'Invenzione nel Settecento Veneziano, Venice, 2010, p. 72).
The present painting—as well as The Marriage at Cana (formerly at Chiswick House and painted for Lord Burlington; inv. no. 59-2, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City)—bears Ricci’s Latinized signature ‘RICCIVS F.’, commonly found on his paintings of this period. Both works reflect Ricci’s profound engagement with Veronese, particularly recalling The Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee, painted by Veronese for the Servite Convent in Venice around 1570–73 (now in the Château de Versailles, France; fig. 1). The compositional arrangement of successive architectural planes, columns, and loggias, as well as the subject matter, the physiognomy of his figures, the dynamic brushwork, and even the whimsical peripheral details like the dog in the lower left corner directly quote Veronese. Indeed, Ricci made a copy (now lost) of Veronese's painting which sold at Christie’s in 1778, where described as ‘S. Ricci, Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee, copy after the grand painting in Venice by Veronese’ (Christie’s, London, 28 April 1778, lot 100).
Prior to the identification of this painting, the composition was known through a loosely executed version at the Kunsthaus Zürich (see C. Klemm, The Paintings of The Betty and David M. Koetser Foundation, Zürich, 1988, pp. 132-3, no. 57). That version, once owned by the painter and dealer Benjamin Vandergucht, was donated to Mortlake Parish Church in London upon his death in 1794. Christian Klemm initially proposed that it was painted in England circa 1715. However, later scholars, including Annalisa Scarpa (A. Scarpa, Sebastiano Ricci, Milan, 2006, p. 344), dated it to the mid-1720s based on a comparison with Ricci’s later paintings in the Royal Collection, acquired by George III from Consul Smith. The present signed and dated Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee supports an earlier dating for the Zürich version, further highlighting the widespread appeal of Ricci’s ‘Veronese-like’ canvases amongst his English patrons.
Given the existence of these two versions and the vague descriptions in early sale catalogues, reconstructing the early provenance with any certainty is challenging. At least three paintings of Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee by Sebastiano Ricci were sold in England during the eighteenth century: one from the collection of John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont (Langford, London, 2 May 1771, lot 40); another from the collection of John Astley (Christie’s, London, 2 May 1777, lot 48); and a third from an unidentified collection (Christie’s, London, 8 November 1783, lot 89).