Madonna enthroned with Saints

Sebastiano Ricci's Madonna Enthroned with Saints, painted in 1684, is an early work from the Venetian painter's career, when he was still absorbing the lessons of the great seventeenth-century decorators. The enthroned Madonna sacra conversazione was a format with deep roots in Venetian painting, from Bellini through Veronese, and Ricci's version shows him engaging with this tradition as he developed toward the lighter decorative style of his maturity. The work demonstrates his early command of large-scale devotional composition.

The Madonna is enthroned at centre with saints arranged at either side in the traditional sacra conversazione format. Ricci's early palette is richer and more sombre than his later work, showing residual influence from the Bolognese classicists. The spatial arrangement is clear and classical, with the figures disposed across a shallow architectural stage.