Triumph of the Marine Venus

This 1713 Triumph of the Marine Venus at the Getty Museum was painted during the period of Ricci's greatest international recognition, when he was working for patrons across Italy, Austria, and England. The marine triumph — Venus rising from or riding the sea attended by tritons and nymphs — was a traditional subject with roots in the Hellenistic and Roman tradition of depicting divine marine epiphany, revived by Renaissance painters and treated with increasing sensuous elaboration in the Baroque. Ricci's version brings his characteristically warm Venetian palette to the marine subject, the goddess's light-suffused body contrasting with the blue-green sea and the attendants' varied postures.

The marine procession is rendered with brilliant aquatic colors and luminous flesh tones, Ricci's fluid brushwork creating a sense of movement through waves and air that demonstrates his mastery of large-scale decorative composition.