Allegory of Charity

Sebastiano Ricci’s pivotal role in the development of north Italian painting has long been noted. He paved the way in the early-eighteenth century with his assured touch and typically brilliant Venetian palette; as Michael Levey wrote: ‘Ricci’s importance as a forerunner was colossal’ (Painting in Eighteenth-century Venice, London, 1959, p. 22). Professionally, he established himself in quick time, and his personal life was not short of drama: he was imprisoned twice as a young man, once accused of the attempted murder of his wife, and then again when he left her and fled to Turin. These private travails did nothing to hinder his artistic progress, however. He travelled widely and frequently in Italy, and received key commissions from abroad, which led to his moving to England in 1712. He would stay some five years, famously completing a cycle of great pictures for Burlington House.
Jeffrey Daniels dates this eloquent picture of Charity to Ricci’s early maturity, circa 1700, while Scarpa believes it was probably painted around five years earlier, during the time he was in Rome and Milan, stopping in the latter between 1694 and 1696. Ricci absorbed a wide range of influences in these years, including that of Annibale Carracci, whose sense of classicism and harmonious charm can be seen here, most notably in the figures’ sweet expressions and the sensitive use of light. The rich brushwork, particularly evident in the well preserved highlights on the white drapery and the flesh tones, are typical of Ricci’s painterly and spontaneous style, which paved the way for the great Venetian artists of the eighteenth century.