Niccolo RICCIOLINI (Rome, 1687 - 1757) Marcus Curtius throwing himself into the pit

TWO DRAWINGS FOR THE SAME COMPOSITION:

Pen and brown ink wash over black stone sketch.

380 x 520 mm
About 1750

and Pen, brown ink and grey ink wash.
279 x 215 mm

Comparative bibliography: Guerrieri Borsoi, Contributi allo studio di Nicolò Ricciolini, in Bollettino d'Arte, s. 6, LXXIII (1988), 50-51, pp. 161-185 (with further bibliography); Ead., Dalla Fabbrica di San Pietro alla chiesa di San Domenico a Urbino: copie di originali vaticani riutilizzate per volontà del cardinal Annibale Albani, in Antichità viva, XXVIII (1989), 1, p. 35; Ead, Un disegno inedito di Nicolò Ricciolini, in Bollettino d'Arte, s. 6, LXXIV (1989), 58, pp. 67 f.; V. Casale, La dinastia dei pittori Ricciolini, in Dal disegno all'opera compiuta. Atti del Convegno internazionale, Torgiano... 1987, edited by M. Di Giampaolo, Perugia 1992, pp. 174-176; M.B. Guerrieri Borsoi, Michelangelo Ricciolini a Frascati e a Macerata, in Bollettino d'Arte, s. 6, LXXVII (1992), 74-75, pp. 124, 126, 130

Niccolo Ricciolini was the pupil of his father, the Roman painter Michelangelo Ricciolini. At the age of nineteen he was already a competent draftsman. His first painting works were done in collaboration with his father, for example, the nudes in camaieu on the sides of the ceiling of the gallery of the Palazzo Orsini in Monterotondo, Rome (around 1712). In 1718, the long period of activity of Niccolo for the Fabbrica of St. Peter and, among other things, cartoons for the decoration in mosaic of some of the chapels and antichapels of the nave. He was particularly influenced by the Roman painter Francesco Trevisani (1656-1746), whose niece he married. Niccolo's paintings are characteristic of the elegant late Roman Baroque style and can be found in several Roman churches, including Santa Maria degli Angeli, Santa Maria delle Grazie alle Fornaci, San Giuseppe alia Lungara and Santo Nome di Maria, as well as in the convent of Santa Maria in Traspontina.

The drawings on display can be dated to the fifth decade of the 18th century, thanks to a stylistic comparison with The Resurrection of Lazarus in the Lemme collection, and belong to the artist's maturity. They propose showy and moving effects, still influenced by Giacinto Brandi, but rather diluted by a chiaroscuro in the style of Trevisani, (to whom the artist was related having married his niece Laura in 1717).
Ricciolini shows here a certain attention to the proto-neoclassical reforms, a la Masucci, decidedly aligned with the Roman barocchetto, of which the two drawings can be considered as a rather representative example.
Efficiently underlined by frequent pen strokes, animated by the dosage of penumbra zones and dark shadows touches, the figures are inserted and articulated skilfully in the page; the whole appears as a single fluid and moving magma of an extreme vitality. A remarkable quality, which contributes to place the Ricciolini draftsman at a higher level than the Ricciolini painter.

We present here two drawings of the same composition but at two different stages of progress and with some variations in format, technique and details. These two sheets are preparatory to the painting of the same composition probably dated in the 1750s.

Marcus Curtius is the protagonist of a strange episode in Roman mythology. Around 362 BC, a chasm opened up in the Forum square, leading directly to the Underworld. This chasm had formed because the Romans had forgotten to perform a sacrifice to the dead. Marcus Curtius, on the back of his horse plunged into the bottomless pit to close it and disappeared forever. He sacrificed himself to save Rome from the wrath of Pluto who demanded a sacrifice for the dead.