Footnotes

• Provenance
  Sale, Christie's, London, 28 April 1972, lot 89 (the property of a gentleman, as 'S.Ricci'), where purchased by the present owner
  
  Literature
  J. Daniels, Sebastiano Ricci, Hove, 1976, p. 60, cat. no. 181, ill., fig. 25
  J. Daniels, L'opera completa di Sebastiano Ricci, Milan, 1976, pp. 117-118, cat. no. 330, ill.
  A. Scarpa, Sebastiano Ricci, 1659-1734, Milan, 2006, p.208, cat. no. 187, p. 539, ill., pl. 395
  
  The present painting is seemingly the sole extant version of a subject often treated by Ricci which depicts only the three main members of the Holy Family. It would appear to be a Nativity rather than, for example, a Rest on the Flight, since the straw and woodwork in the foreground imply a manger. The pose of the Madonna, particularly the hands, suggest a comparison with the Louvre Triumph of Wisdom, painted by Ricci just before 1718 as his Morceau de Réception for the Académie Royale, and a similar dating has been proposed for this work.