Christ healing the Man Blind from Birth (after Ricci)
after Sebastiano Ricci (Belluno 1659 – Venice 1734)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1712 - 1741
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
533 x 679 mm (21 x 26 3/4 in)
Place of origin
Venice
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732265
Caption
A blind man kneels before Christ, who stands in the centre in front of a temple surrounded by a group of onlookers including his disciples and Pharisees. A crippled beggar is seated on the ground at the right and a mother and child kneel at the left with a dog in front of them. Christ is performing the miracle of restoring the blind man's sight by anointing his eyes with clay which he had made by spitting on the ground as recounted in the Bible. The original picture, which is now in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, was owned by King George II's physician, Dr Richard Mead, and may have been painted as a gift, perhaps from a grateful patient.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Christ healing the Man Blind from Birth after Sebastiano Ricci (Belluno 1659 – Venice 1734) A blind man kneels before Christ, who stands in front of a temple surrounded by a group of onlookers including his disciples and Pharisees. A crippled beggar is seated on the ground at the right and a mother and child kneel at the left with a dog in front of them. Christ, in the centre and wearing a red robe with a blue cloak, is depicted performing the miracle of restoring the blind man's sight by anointing his eyes with clay which he had made by spitting on the ground, as recounted in the New Testament, John 9:1-7. The original picture, which is now in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, was owned by King George II's physician, Dr Richard Mead, and may have been painted as a gift, perhaps from a grateful patient.
Provenance
Acquired by Henry Hoare II (1705-85) and in house by 1762. Given to the National Trust along with the house, its grounds, and the rest of contents by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Bt (1865 – 1947) in 1946
Credit line
Stourhead, The Hoare Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
after Sebastiano Ricci (Belluno 1659 – Venice 1734), artist
References
Walpole 1927-28 Paget Toynbee (ed.), 'Horace Walpole's Journals of Visits to Country Seats, etc.', 1760-62, Walpole Society XVI, 1927 -28 pp. 9-80, p.42 Jeffery Daniels, L'Opera Completa di Sebastiano Ricci, Milan 1976, no.407 Jeffery Daniels, Sebastiano Ricci, Brighton 1976, p.115, no.412 fig.272