Lot 1537 Dα

An artist with an adventurous biography, Pietro Ricchi trained in the Florentine counter-reform environment and later entered the workshop of Guido Reni in Bologna (circa 1625). He then moved to Rome and France from where – after sojourning in Aix-en-Provence, Arles, Lyon, and Paris - had to flee following a duel. From 1634-35, he was recorded in Milan, and subsequentially in Bergamo and Brescia, Venice (during the 1660s) and Udine, where he lived until his death.
The simple composition and the use of chiaroscuro, the figures sharply standing out from the background, as well as the choice of physical types, is echoed in other paintings from the second Italian period. In particular, the present scene can be compared to the Morra Players, already with Canesso Gallery: in both works, the monochrome palette is counterpointed by red highlights, the figures are depicted in an abstract, picturesque manner, strongly lit from below, almost isolated and emerging from a magical world.
The attribution was confirmed by Professor Riccardo Lattuada in occasion of the previous sale; another version of the same subject was formerly with Altomani and Sons Gallery, Milano and Pesaro.