Capriccio Landscape

Marco Ricci (Belluno 1676 – Venice 1730). Oil painting on canvas (oval), Capriccio Landscape by Marco Ricci (Belluno 1676 – Venice 1730), circa 1708/16. An upright oval romantic Italianate landscape composed of a large rocky cliff surmounted by a castle with a gate and round tower. smoke rising from a chimney in a house inside the battlements. A rocky path leads up to the gateway from right to left, various figures ascend the path and three figures are seated (centre) at the base of the cliff. A further figure stands in an open doorway carved from the rock to the left. A decorative piece in the manner of Magnasco. Marco Ricci came to England along with Pellegrini in 1708, in the retinue of the 4th Earl of Manchester, who was returning from an embassy to Venice, and again with his uncle Sebastiano Ricci, from 1711/12-16. His speciality was landscape, often painted in gouache on leather. Hinton Ampner, Hampshire (Accredited Museum)