Sebastiano Ricci

Jean de Sellon (1736-1810), Seigneur d'Allaman and Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Château d'Allaman, Pays de Vaud, Switzerland;

Probably thence by descent to his son, Jean-Jacques de Sellon (1782–1839), Comte Sellon, Geneva;

Private collector, Switzerland, by 1978;

Anonymous sale ("Collection Patricienne Genevoise"), Geneva, Genève Enchères, 4 May 2022, lot 158 (as Attributed to Sebastiano Ricci, as one of a pair);

Where acquired by the present owner.

Catalogue complet de la galerie de tableaux du Comte de Sellon, manuscript s.d., fol. 39, cat. nos. 65 and 66 (with pendant, as "Tintoret").

Confidently rendered with flickering brushstrokes and a brilliant palette, this late work by the Venetian painter Sebastiano Ricci depicts the Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee. Set within the courtyard of a Palladian villa, this New Testament scene centers on Christ–wearing luminous pink and blue robes–and Mary Magdalene, who anoints his feet with oil from a silver-gilt bowl. According to the biblical narrative, the yellow-robed figure advancing from the left is Judas, who has risen from the table to witness the Magdalene’s act. Ricci's lively handling and rich use of color evoke the spirit of Veronese and convey an exuberance characteristic of Venetian art of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Ricci depicted this subject on a few occasions, including a vertical composition sold at Sotheby’s London in 2011.¹ A monumental canvas that was acquired by King George III today hangs in the dining room at Hampton Court Palace, a modello for which is also in the British Royal Collection.² For nearly three centuries, the present painting was accompanied by a pendant depicting Christ Healing the Paralytic Man at the Pool of Bethesda, which sold in these rooms in January 2023.³

¹ Sotheby’s London, 6 July 2011, lot 66.

² Hampton Court Palace, inv. no. 405742; Royal Collection Trust, inv. no. 404769.

³ Sotheby's New York, 28 January 2023, lot 127.