Restoration in 2008 with funding from Young Friends of Save Venice.

These two landscape paintings by Marco Ricci depict the Piave river valley, to the north of Venice in the Veneto; they offer glimpses of the serenity of country life and the daily activities involved, creating a poetic vision reminiscent of Giorgione’s pastoral imagery. In one painting, travel-worn horses drink at a fountain under grandiose trees in a landscape dotted with architectural ruins. The second canvas focuses on a stream where women wash clothes and peasants lounge about, with monks and horsemen passing by.

Marco Ricci’s artistic training benefited from a variety of sources and locations. He first studied in Venice with his renowned uncle Sebastiano, who produced many excellent late Baroque altarpieces and frescoes. He then entered an apprenticeship with a landscape painter in Dalmatia, to which he had fled after killing a gondolier in a brawl. Ricci worked in Milan, Florence, and Rome, studied Dutch landscape painting in the Netherlands, and designed stage sets in London. Returning to Venice by 1716, Ricci specialized in landscapes and was among the first Venetians to make etchings.

The paintings were restored by conservator Annalisa Lusuardi, with the guidance of project director Giulio Manieri Elia of the Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Marco Ricci (1676–1730)
Landscape with Stream, Monks and Laundresses
Landscape with Horses and Drinking Trough
c. 1715-20, Oil on canvas
136 x 198 cm
136 x 197 cm

Gallerie dell’Accademia: Homepage

Gallerie dell’Accademia, Links to the Works:
Landscape with Stream, Monks, and Laundresses;
Landscape with Horses and Drinking Trough