The Last Communion of Saint Mary of Egypt
Sebastiano Ricci·c. 1695
Historical Context
Ricci's Last Communion of Saint Mary of Egypt from around 1695 depicts the remarkable scene from the saint's legend in which the desert hermit Zosimas gave the elderly Mary Communion at the Jordan river — a miraculous encounter between the desert contemplative and the monastic tradition. Mary of Egypt, a former prostitute who spent forty-seven years in desert penance, was a figure of the most extreme conversion and ascetic transformation in Christian hagiography. Ricci's early treatment of this unusual subject reflects his engagement with Counter-Reformation devotional subjects and his ability to combine the dramatic narrative of the saint's legend with the warm atmospheric painting that was his primary contribution to eighteenth-century Venetian art.
Technical Analysis
The oil on canvas displays Ricci's energetic brushwork and dramatic lighting, with warm flesh tones and richly colored draperies creating a dynamic composition that draws on the Venetian tradition of Veronese and the Roman Baroque.
Provenance
Probably Marchese Giorgio Clerici [d. 1736], Milan;[1] by descent in his family until at least 1770. Josef Cremer, Dortmund, by 1914;[2] by descent in his family;[3] (sale, Sotheby's, London, 6 July 1988, no. 62). (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 24 May 1991, no. 69). (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 10 December 1993, no. 97, bought in). private collection, Japan; purchased 6 June 2003 through (Hall & Knight Ltd., New York and London) by NGA. [1] Archivio di Stato di Milano, Fondo Notarile n. 38321 (notaio Cignani), _Inventario de stabili, censi, redditi, capitali, crediti, mobile, Argenti, Gioia, denari, ed altro ritrovato, e lasciato al tempo della sua morte dal fú Ill[ustrissi]mo, ed Ecc[ellentissi]mo sig.re Marchese Presidente Don Giorgio Clerici..._, fol. 4: 'Altro Quadro rapresentante Sta Maria Egiziaca communicata da un'Eremita. . . Originale di Sebastiano Rizzi, alt[ez]za B[racci]a 4, Larg[hez]za B[racci]a 2 1/2 con cornice soglia adorata'... The inventory was drawn up in 1738 following the Marchese's death two years earlier. [2] _Collection Geh. Kommerzienrat Cremer, Dortmund_, 3 vols., Parchim, n.d. [1914]: 1(text):43, as _Kommunion der hl. Magdalena_; 2(plates):n. 946, as _Kommunion der hl. Maria von Egypten_. Born in 1845, Josef Cremer was a brewery owner and prominent citizen of Dortmund, where he was made an honorary citizen in 1922. The catalogue of his collection was compiled in 1914 in advance of his 70th birthday; it identifies him as a 'Geheimer Kommerzienrat', a high-ranking honorary title (abolished in 1919) conferred by the German state to magnates of commerce and high finance. In the preface, Cremer reminisced that his collection was the result of his numerous trips to Holland, Belgium, France, England, and Italy. He displayed a particular interest in early Netherlandish and Northern Baroque paintings, as well as in Italian works of the 18th century, and the collection also held works from the British, Spanish, and Portuguese schools. The catalogue does not appear to be systematic: the first volume contains texts on the different schools represented in his collection (by Hermann Voss, with contributions by Friedrich Winkler and Karl Lilienfeld), while two volumes of plates illustrate over 200 works. [3] The painting does not appear in the 1929 sale of the Cremer collection, and manuscript annotations in the Frick Art Reference Library copy of Cremer's 1914 collection catalogue confirm this. Thieme and Becker 1934, 250 record the work (albeit erroneously as _Kommunion der hl. Magdalena_) as still in the Dortmund collection. Jeffery Daniels, _Sebastiano Ricci_, Hove, 1976: 24, declares it "formerly" in the Cremer collection. There is no reason, however, to doubt the mention in the 1988 Sotheby's sales catalogue stating that the painting was put up for auction by descendants of Josef Cremer.
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