Sebastiano Ricci

Collection of the Palazzo of the Marquis Cesare Pagani, Milan (inventory of his paintings, 1706-1707, no. 137);

Collection Luigi Koelliker, Milan;

From whom acquired by the present owner, in 2009.

D. Pescarmona, 'Per l'attività di Paolo Pagani e i suoi rapporti con l'omonimo marchese Cesare', in Arte lombarda, nos. 98-99, 1991, p. 126, no. 137;

C. Geddo, 'Ritrovamenti sul marchese Cesare Pagani committente del pittore Paolo Pagani', in Paragone, XLVI, 1995, pp. 127, 143, note 18;

A. Morandotti, Paolo Pagani e i Pagani di Castello Valsolda, Lugano 2000, p. 205, fig. 101.

A. Morandotti, 'Il primato di Venezia. Sebastiano Ricci, i pittori lombardi e Alessandro Magnasco', in cat. exh. Il genio di Milano. Crocevia delle arti dalla Fabbrica del Duomo al '900, Milan, November 2024 - March 2025 (publication to come).

Milan, Palazzo Reale, L'anima e il volto. Ritratto e fisiognomica da Leonardo a Bacon, October-March 1998;

Milan, Palazzo Reale, Il gran teatro del mondo. L'anima e il volto del Settecento, November 2003 - April 2004, no. I.11;

Cagliari, Bestie. Animali reali e fantastici nell'arte europea dal Medioevo al primo Novecento, February-June 2011, no. 31;

Turin, La Venaria Reale, Cani in posa dall'antichità ad oggi, October 2018 - February 2019, no. 47.

Rediscovered in 1998 and probably executed between 1694 and 1696, during Ricci’s stay in Milan, this painting depicts Michelino Pagani, a young Turkish slave, baptised and adopted by the Marchese Cesare Pagani. Listed in the Marchese’s inventory dated 1706-1707, this portrait is considered one of Ricci’s masterpieces and testifies to the interest shown in the issue of slavery in the 18^th century.

Rediscovered in 1998, this magnificent and striking portrait is unquestionably one of Sebastiano Ricci’s masterpieces, for the originality of the subject, its ambition and its treatment. It shows Michelino Pagani, a young Turkish slave of the Milanese Marchese Cesare Pagani (1634/35–1707). Son of a Dalmatian soldier in the service of the Sublime Porte, based in Castelnuovo (now Herceg Novi in Montenegro), the young boy was taken into captivity when the town was seized by the Venetians on 30 September 1687. He was baptised and finally adopted by Cesare Pagani in 1691.

The painting was very probably executed between 1694 and 1696, while Sebastiano Ricci was in Milan, engaged in fulfilling his commission for frescoes in the church of San Bernardino alle Ossa. Michelino would then have been between eight and ten years old, which matches the age of the boy in the portrait. The painting is listed as no. 137 in the Marchese Pagani’s inventory dated 1706–1707, with the following description and dimensions given in once which are consistent with the present canvas: ‘Un turco con un Cane del Ricci. Once 54 per 30. Doppie 20’ [‘A Turk with a dog by Ricci. 54 once by 30. 20 doppie’] (Inventario de’ quadri et loro Prezzo, private archives, see D. Pescarmona, ‘Per l’attività di Paolo Pagani e i suoi rapporti con l’omonimo marchese Cesare’, in conference proceedings for Barocco lombardo – Barocco europeo, Villa Vigoni di Menaggio, 1990, published in Arte Lombarda, 98/99, 1991, p. 126, no. 137).

Ricci painted the young child standing, with an indistinct landscape in the background, holding his powerful mastiff on a chain. Surprisingly, he is not dressed in the Italian style, but in the traditional costume of his birthplace, Dalmatia, clearly inspired by Turkish sartorial custom. He wears the typical Balkan fustanella (kilt) and a blue coat lined with fur, which has striking silver buttons. Over this, he has a thick cloak of gold and pink silk. His feet are shod in opingas, leather sandals made in one piece and trimmed with silver. An object passes through his belt which is difficult to identify, but doubtless makes reference to his past as a slave. It is probably a dagger whose handle has been carved into the shape of a captive man, or perhaps Christ at the column, in either case an obvious symbol of captivity.

The richness of his clothing contrasts strongly with the dark background, deliberately painted in sombre tones with the intention of making the child and his dog stand out dramatically, in full light. As has been correctly pointed out by Franco Moro and later Alberto Cottino, the presence of the dog, a magnificent black and white Cane Corso, is certainly not inconsequential. Held by its owner on a massive metal chain, the mastiff is a subtle reminder of his former position as a slave, revoked after his baptism and adoption by the Marchese.

Ricci presents the child in a monumental format, giving him a special dignity which underscores his unusual story and his emancipation from his former situation. The painting, a tangible testimony to Cesare Pagani’s affection for his adoptive son, is also a manifesto against slavery, which the Marchese fervently opposed: he was a member of the Trinitari Scalzi confraternity, an order whose mission was to fight against human enslavement.