Abraham and three angels

This 1695 Abraham and Three Angels depicts the Old Testament scene of divine hospitality that Christian tradition interpreted as a prefiguration of the Trinity. The three mysterious visitors who appeared at Abraham's tent, received his hospitality, and announced that Sarah would bear a son despite her old age were understood in Christian typological reading as the Trinity appearing in human form. Ricci's warm Venetian palette and his characteristic treatment of celestial figures give this Old Testament scene an air of divine light and grace. His early maturity works like this 1695 painting established the style he would deploy in major decorative commissions across Italy, England, and Vienna.

The angelic visitors and their patriarch host are rendered with Ricci's luminous colors and confident brushwork, the figures arranged in a dynamic composition against a landscape backdrop painted with atmospheric warmth.