The Holy Family with Angels. Artist: Sebastiano Ricci (Italian, Belluno 1659-1734 Venice). Dimensions: 50 x 45 1/2 in. (127 x 115.6 cm). Date: ca. 1700.
An artist of remarkable facility and invention, Sebastiano Ricci achieved a reputation throughout Europe. This Holy Family reflects Ricci's admiration for the work of Ludovico Carracci. He would have had ample opportunity to study Ludovico's paintings when he moved from Venice to Bologna about 1678. The intimate treatment of the theme and the bespectacled figure of Saint Joseph reading a book are noteworthy.