Lot 87: Francisco Rizi de Guevara (Madrid, 1614-1685)

Francisco Rizi de Guevara (Madrid, 1614-1685)
The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple with Saints Anne and Joachim
signed and dated '1664 Regi.υo Hispã. Pict.υr Fran.υo Riciυo fe.' (lower centre)
oil on canvas
78¾ x 56¾ in. (200 x 144.2 cm.)

(Probably) I. Bosarte, Viaje artstico a varios pueblos de España, Madrid, 1804, pp. 81-2 (reprinted with an introduction by Pérez Sánchez, Madrid, 1977).
(Probably) V. Carderera y Solano, Catálogo y descripción sumaria, Madrid, 1887 (cited in Viñaza, see infra).
(Probably) Conde de la Viñaza, Adiciones al Diccionario histórico de Ceán Bermúdez, 1889-1894, III, p. 315.
(Possibly) Marqués de Lozoya, private communication to Angulo (cited in infra, p. 115).
D. Angulo Iñiguez, 'Francisco Rizi: Su vida. Cuadros religiosos fechados anteriores a 1670', in Archivo Español de Arte, 1958, pp. 113-5, notes 63 and 64, pl. 16.
A.E. Pérez Sánchez, Carreo, Rizi, Herrera y la Pintura Madrileña de su tiempo, Museo del Prado, Palacio de Villahermosa, January-March 1986, pp. 78-9.

(Possibly) Santa Maria del Parral, Segovia (see Alguno, infra, p. 114).
(Probably) Convent of the Capuchins, Madrid, where seen by Bosarte before 1804 (see infra), and by Carderera before 1887, as recorded by Viñaza (see infra).

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Francisco Rizi de Guevara was the son of the Anconan painter Antonio Ricci, who came to Spain with Federico Zuccaro in 1583, to work for Philip II. Francisco's elder brother Fray Juan Rizi also became a painter, as well as a writer and architect, and Francisco studied with his father and brother before entering the studio of Vicente Carducho. In turn, he was to become the master of Claudio Coello.

As Alguno notes (loc. cit.), The Presentation of the Virgin holds a special significance in Rizi's oeuvre as a painting in which architectural elements assume greater compositional importance. Taking advantage of the size of the canvas, Rizi deploys a complex, multi-tiered structure which leads the viewer into the centre of the composition; while we appear to see the Virgin walking up a staircase from the front, the characters in the background show us we have a view from the side. Alguno sees in this compositional effect a faint echo of prints by Albrecht Dürer, made subordinate to Rizi's Rubensian ambitions; via Rubens, Rizi's grand composition also recalls Titian's famous interpretation of this subject (Venice, Accademia), albeit in a vertical format.