Christ healing the Lame Man at the Pool of Bethesda

Ricci's Christ Healing the Lame Man at the Pool of Bethesda, painted in 1728, is one of his major religious compositions from his mature period. The subject — drawn from the Gospel of John — depicts Christ restoring a man who had been unable to reach the healing waters for thirty-eight years. It was a standard topic for large devotional paintings and church decorations, demonstrating divine mercy and miraculous power. By 1728, Ricci had returned to Venice from his English sojourn and was working at the peak of his powers, producing ambitious multi-figure compositions for ecclesiastical and aristocratic patrons.

The composition accommodates a crowd of onlookers, the prostrate lame man, and Christ's commanding central figure, likely arranged along a receding architectural setting of colonnades and water. Ricci's late palette is bright and airy, with vivid drapery colors against a luminous sky.