Artists of the Collection
Marco Ricci
1676 Belluno–1730 Venice
The founder of eighteenth-century Venetian landscape painting: born in Belluno on 6 June 1676, he learned his craft from his uncle, the celebrated Sebastiano Ricci, later collaborating with him on palace decorations in Florence and Rome. He won fame with his capricci — fantasy compositions of Roman ruins coveted by English aristocrats on the Grand Tour — and also worked as a stage designer in Venice and London.
His art fused the influence of Dutch landscapists with the drama of Salvator Rosa and Magnasco; he died in Venice on 21 January 1730, and the civic museum of his native Belluno preserves a major group of his works. Our two pieces — a harbour landscape and a capriccio with ruins — represent precisely the two genres that made his name.
