Rehearsal of an opera

Ricci, Marco (1676-1730)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

ca. 1709

Height:

46.4 cm  (18 1/4 in.)

Width:

57.8 cm  (22 3/4 in.)

Technique / Medium:

oil on canvas

Description

An interior scene with three shoreline paintings in the background. In the foreground are eighteen individuals, with six actively involved in music making--leading, singing, or playing. Instruments visible are harpsichord, theorbo or archlute, double bass, and cello. Based on published identifications for another very similar scene by Ricci (RIdIM item 6216), the singers dressed in black and white and standing in front of the harpsichord are likely the rivals Catherine Tofts and Francesca Margherita de L'Épine.

People as subjects

Tofts, Catherine (ca. 1682-1756) (Musician)
De l'Épine, Francesca Margherita (ca. 1680-1746) (Musician)

Iconclass

48A711(+383)
rehearsal ~ work of art ( + opera)
48C755
vocal music, singing

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Harpsichord [2251]
Theorbo [3473] (or archlute)
Double bass [3111]
Violoncello [3582]

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

Bibliographic references

Chen, Ching-Jung. The early Georgian conversation piece (Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University, UMI Dissertation Services, 2001) 79, 130, 593-99, cat. 145.

Canaletto & Venezia, Museum Musei, Milano. 64, cat. 11.06.

Crown, Patricia. British comic art, 1730-1830, from the Yale Center for British Art (Columbia: Museum of Art and Archaelogy, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1988) 5, 6, 28.

Loisel, Catherine. Eblouissante Venise: Venise, les Arts et l'Europe au XVIIIe Siècle, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris. 130-131, cat. 86.

Wilcox, Scott. Among the whores and thieves: William Hogarth and The beggar's opera, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1997. 44, 46, 103, no. 26.

Dean, Winton. "L’Epine, (Francesca) Margherita [Françoise Marguérite] de", Grove Music Online.

Kuhlman, Erika A. A to Z of women in world history (New York: Facts On File, 2002) 157-159.

Notes

This is one of two Ricci paintings with the same date and title at the Yale Center for British Art. See also RIdIM item 6216.

RIdIM record id

6217