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Lot Essay
Born in Rome circa 1600, Ruschi moved to Venice shortly before 1629, at the invitation of an ambassador for whom he had painted a number of works in the capital. The present painting comes from an impressive decorative scheme executed by the artist for the ceiling of the convent of Sant'Anna in Venice. Located near the Church of San Pietro di Castello, the convent was designed by Francesco Conti and built by 1639, from which time Ruschi worked on the commission until around 1651 (or possibly 1659; see Safarik; op. cit., p. 318). The ceiling, which was the most notable part of the convent's decoration, is described by Martinioni (loc. cit.): it comprised fourteen canvases (with a large oval in the center), depicting the Four Gifts of the Beatified Body, six parables from the Gospel of Saint Matthew and the eight Beatitudes (including the present work). Once completed, the ceiling drew much praise: Boschini (loc. cit.), a contemporary of Ruschi who had been thus far one of the artist's detractors, considered it 'opera la più singolare, che abbia fatto' ('the most exceptional work done by the artist'), while, in the following century, Zanetti (loc. cit.) called it 'una delle migliori sue opere' ('one of his best works'). More recently in an article that discusses the project in some depth, Safarik (op. cit., p. 326) described the decoration as '...certamente un capolavoro del Ruschi nel campo della pittura decorativa, un lavoro ben equilibrato, un complesso di notevole importanza' ('certainly a masterpiece by Ruschi in the field of decorative painting, a well balanced work, a scheme of considerable importance.').
The decorative ensemble was dispersed when the convent was closed in 1806. The paintings appear to have passed first into the collection of Conte Luigi Savorgan, assembled in the palazzo di Santa Maria Formosa, and thence, in 1817, into the possession of Mons. Pietro Steffer, rector of the Patriarchal Seminary. By 1837, an unidentified painting with two figures by Ruschi is recorded in the Palazzo Ducale, and, a year later, this and the rest of the group appear to have been sold. Safarik (ibid., p. 325) suggests that three paintings in the Museo Ceralbo, Madrid, published by in 1964 Pérez-Sánchez, should be seen as part of the Sant'Anna scheme (A. Pérez-Sánchez, 'Algunos quadros inéditos del barroco veneciano', Goya, 59, 1964, pp. 346-347).
In his reconstruction of the scheme based on contemporary accounts, Safarik (op. cit., p. 326) notes that it is also of significance for its iconographic program. In the present composition, for example, it is interesting to note that Ruschi--while following Ripa's Iconologia for the depictions of the two Beatitudes represented here--has chosen to portray the two figures together in one canvas and thereby introduced an element of intimacy and dialogue between them. Although the monumental scale of the figures reveals Ruschi's Roman training and reception of Caravaggio, the composition itself shows his interest in the grand Venetian decorative schemes executed by such sixteenth-century masters as Veronese and Tintoretto--see, for example, the former's set of Virtues in the Palazzo Ducale, Venice. However, Ruschi's scheme is not merely imitative of such works, but also looks forward to the next generation of Venetian artists who were also to produce similar ceiling decorations, such as Antonio Bellucci, Sebastiano Ricci and Giambattista Tiepolo.
The decorative ensemble was dispersed when the convent was closed in 1806. The paintings appear to have passed first into the collection of Conte Luigi Savorgan, assembled in the palazzo di Santa Maria Formosa, and thence, in 1817, into the possession of Mons. Pietro Steffer, rector of the Patriarchal Seminary. By 1837, an unidentified painting with two figures by Ruschi is recorded in the Palazzo Ducale, and, a year later, this and the rest of the group appear to have been sold. Safarik (ibid., p. 325) suggests that three paintings in the Museo Ceralbo, Madrid, published by in 1964 Pérez-Sánchez, should be seen as part of the Sant'Anna scheme (A. Pérez-Sánchez, 'Algunos quadros inéditos del barroco veneciano', Goya, 59, 1964, pp. 346-347).
In his reconstruction of the scheme based on contemporary accounts, Safarik (op. cit., p. 326) notes that it is also of significance for its iconographic program. In the present composition, for example, it is interesting to note that Ruschi--while following Ripa's Iconologia for the depictions of the two Beatitudes represented here--has chosen to portray the two figures together in one canvas and thereby introduced an element of intimacy and dialogue between them. Although the monumental scale of the figures reveals Ruschi's Roman training and reception of Caravaggio, the composition itself shows his interest in the grand Venetian decorative schemes executed by such sixteenth-century masters as Veronese and Tintoretto--see, for example, the former's set of Virtues in the Palazzo Ducale, Venice. However, Ruschi's scheme is not merely imitative of such works, but also looks forward to the next generation of Venetian artists who were also to produce similar ceiling decorations, such as Antonio Bellucci, Sebastiano Ricci and Giambattista Tiepolo.