Oil painting, 'Imaginary Monument to William Cavendish, First Duke of Devonshire (1640-1707)', after Marco and Sebastiano Ricci, 18th century

Under a large atmospheric sky, bathed in a warm sunset light, a group of figures among Roman ruins is admiring a sculptural ensemble set on a pedestal on the right. An isolated figure in the middle is dressed in Renaissance fashion, accompanied by another figure pointing at the sculptures on the right while in the left background is an equestrian statue, silhouetted against the sky and supported by Corinthian columns. On each side are trees delineated against the sky.

Provenance:Christie's, 14 June 1948, lot 84, as 'Le Brun, The Fall of Constantinople'; bought Fenouil, who sold it to the Museum in 1949.

Historical significance: This is an enlarged copy, without arched top, of the painting signed by Marco and Sebastiano Ricci completed by March 8th 1722, formerly at Goodwood and now in the Barber Institute, Birmingham (219 x 141). It was mis-catalogued in the sale-room in 1949 as The Fall of Constantinople by Le Brun, a misnomer reflecting the obscure subject-matter and iconography of the series from which this painting derives.

In 1720 Owen McSwiny - the bankrupt opera impresario living abroad in Italy since 1713 to escape his creditors - commissioned a series of twenty-four paintings from Bolognese and Venetian artists which were to commemorate English heroes of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He did so partly as a result of his friendship with the Duke of Richmond (Whitley, i), who acquired a number of the paintings, including the Tomb of the Duke of Devonshire, and they were later seen by Vertue hanging in his dining-room at Goodwood, together with an explanatory account of their subjects (Walpole Society, xxiv); he later noted the Devonshire picture as 'Ricci' (Walpole Society, xxvi). McSwiny designed to augment his profits by engraving them. He advertised the scheme in a pamphlet of 1727 or later, To the ladies and gentlemen of taste in Great-Britain and Ireland, naming eight paintings as already engraved. The Tomb of the Duke of Devonshire is not among them, nor does it appear in the 1736 Tombeaux des princes, des grands capitaines et autres hommes il!ustres; Vertue noted in 1747 that it had not been engraved, though McSwiny must have intended it to be done as a reduced version in grisaille exists of the kind used for engraving (Christie’s, 2 July 1965, lot 102, now collection Lord Harewood; cf. the McSwiny sale of 1755, mentioned by Levey, 1964). The paintings were joint works, a fact specifically stated by McSwiny. The Riccis were also responsible for the Sir Cloudesley Shovell(engraved 1736, the original in the N. G., Washington, no. 1610). It may be noted that in 1730 McSwiny scored 'a fortunate hitt' when Sir WiIIiam Morrice bought the remaining completed paintings (Haskell, 1962).

In March 1729 McSwiny complained to the Duke of Richmond that copies had been made of two of the paintings in his possession, 'to ye. Memory's of the Duke of Devonshire & Sr. Cloudesley Shovel', and had been acquired by Lord Bingley. But as early as 1727 John Conduitt had told McSwiny of the existence of these copies, in a letter criticizing the abstruse iconographical schemes devised by McSwiny: the paintings though 'fine painted' failed to establish the hero's identity, two had already been transformed. 'I mean those for the late D. of Devonshire and Sir Cloudesley Shovel, the first of which is turned into a Brutus and the other into a Roman Admiral by my Lord Bingley in whose possession they now are.'

The Museum's copy may therefore be Lord Bingley's, presumably made in England either by an Italian or, more improbably, an English hand, or it could be one of the copies thought to have been made in Italy as Pilo suggests (oral communication, 1964).

The iconography remains obscure. McSwiny said of the schemes that 'The Ornaments are furnish'd partly from the Supporters and Arms of the respective families; and the Ceremonies supposed to be performed at the several Sepulchres, as well as the Statues and Basso-Rilievo's, allude to the Virtues, to the Imployments, or to the Learning and Sciences of the Departed.' Vertue noted in 1747 of the Devonshire picture 'the Honor of Learning and Arts, a young Hero introduced - the stagg & ducal Coronet &c.' In the main group of statues, the 'young Hero', with family devices of coronet, serpent, stag (and medallion of St George and the dragon, presumably alluding to Devonshire's K.G.) around him, raises learning by the Arm, while another female figure, representing the Arts, with a cornucopia at her side, holds out what seems to be a mirror. Between the two lower river-gods a hand with a dagger is the complement to the inscription below, 'HAEC [MANUS] [INI]MICA [T]IRANNIS', alluding to Devonshire's part in the overthrow of James II. The theme of learning and the arts is repeated in the two foreground groups of mourners and onlookers, painting and music on the left, the sciences on the right. The equestrian statue in the left background seems principally to provide the appropriate atmosphere of departed heroism, though it may have a more precise meaning. McSwiny's obscure scheme has precedents, in the French late 17th century cult of 'painted enigmas' (J. Montagu, 'The painted enigma and French seventeenth-century art' in J.W.C. I., xxxi, 1968, p. 307ff.), in which figures and attributes allude to a topical and/or a classical event, sometimes suggesting and concealing a word. One such painting of 1670 by Friquet de Vauroze, which could have been known to McSwiny through a published description and explanation of its allegory, shows 'Un héro[s] protegeant les arts après ses conquêtes' (quoted J. Montagu, art.cit., p. 308, pl. 80b) and McSwiny's scheme has several points of resemblance to it. In any case the elaborate and abstruse conceit based on a topical allusion was known also in Italian art (ibid., note to p. 334 f.).

The composition depicts a group of people among Roman ruins with, in the middle, an isolated figure in Renaissance costume, accompanied by another figure pointing to a group of sculptures on a pedestal, with ruined Corinthian columns on the right. In the left background, an equestrian statue is supported by Corinthian columns. This copy is bathed in a sunset light (instead of bright sunlight), with more atmospheric clouds. The glossy finish differs from the typically free and dry brushwork of Marco Ricci and the warm palette departs from Ricci's cooler tones. The play of light and shade is weaker and less inventive than in the original.

Several contemporary copies were made after the original composition, including a reduced 'grisaille', probably by the painter Domenico Maria Fratta (1696-1763) in Chatsworth. This copy may have been made as early as 1727, but the identity of the copyist is unknown.

Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734) was born in Belluno, and later moved to the nearby city of Venice, where he studied with the Milanese painter Federico Cervelli (c. 1625–1700) and was influenced by earlier works by Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) and the Neapolitan Luca Giordano (1634-1705). He fled to Bologna in 1681 and returned to Venice in 1696. Probably around this time his nephew, Marco Ricci (1676-1730) became his pupil. Marco fled shortly after to Split in Dalmatia, after having murdered a gondolier, and remained there four years, concentrating on landscape painting. He returned to Venice in 1700 and specialised in painting theatrical scenery. Little is known about Marco’s artistic development, but he seems to have collaborated with Alessandro Magnasco (1667-1749) and Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (1675-1741), whom he accompanied to England and the Netherlands.

A 'capriccio' is a painted, drawn or engraved composition that combines imaginary and realistic architectural features in a picturesque setting, often with small figures. It emerged as a genre in Italy during the early 18th-century. The Italian landscape, which abounded with classical ruins, lent itself to this new genre. It particularly developed at Venice by Marco Ricci (1676-1730) and his uncle Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734), Canaletto (1697-1768), Giambattista Pittoni (1687-1767) and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682-1754).

Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734) was born in Belluno near Venice where he moved at the age of 12 and became there an apprentice to the Milanese painter Federico Cervelli (c. 1625–1700) and was influenced by Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) and the Neapolitan painter Luca Giordano (1634-1705) who sojourned in the city for some time. His flight to Bologna in 1681 started an itinerant and successful career in Italy and throughout Europe, receiving important commissions. In 1696 Sebastiano was back in Venice and it was probably around that time that his nephew, Marco Ricci (1676-1730) became his pupil. Marco fled shortly after to Split in Dalmatia having murdered a gondolier and remained there for four years concentrating on landscape painting, a training that he put in good use once back in Venice in 1700 as he started depicting theatrical sceneries. Unlike his uncle, little is known on Marco’s artistic development although he seems to have collaborated with Alessandro Magnasco (1667-1749) and Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (1675-1741) with whom he went to England and the Netherlands.

This painting is a copy after a well-known composition by both Marco and Sebastiano Ricci, now in The Barber Institute, Birmingham. Based on a complex iconography, it represents an imaginary monument to the Duke of Devonshire showing a several figures admiring a group of sculptures perched on a pedestal among Roman ruins. The whole picture is bathed into a sunset light that enhances the dramatic atmosphere and underlines the importance of heroism in the subject matter.

P.16-1949