A Boy

This 1727 Boy in the Royal Collection dates from Ricci's final period, when he was completing his last major commissions before his death in Venice in 1734. The intimate subject of a single young figure allowed the elderly painter to demonstrate his technical range beyond the grand decorative subjects of his most ambitious career phase. The Royal Collection's extensive Ricci holdings reflect the commissions and purchases made during his English stay of 1711-16 and subsequently through the diplomatic channels that connected the British and Venetian courts. Even this intimate late work shows the warm, luminous approach to figure painting that characterized his entire career.

The boy is rendered with Ricci's warm palette and fluid brushwork, the figure's youthful freshness captured with the directness and luminous color that characterized even his late work.