Sebastiano Ricci: Baroque Prestige, Modern Luxury

October 8 - November 22

Christopher Bishop Fine Art presents a long lost 18th century work of art by Italian master Sebastiano Ricci. The painting, titled Diana and Endymion, generated great excitement during its debut at the prestigious art fair TEFAF Maastricht, The Netherlands, from June 25-30, 2022. The viewing marks the first time the work will be shown in New York.

The sumptuous painting Diana and Endymion is based on Greco-Roman mythology, depicting Diana, goddess of the moon, gazing at the mortal Endymion, a young shepherd who has fallen into an eternal sleep. Full of theatricality, drama, and sexual tension, the work is an explosion of color and flesh, upending the usual presumptions about Old Master paintings.

The exhibition features related work and objects from Renaissance Italy including a Baroque quiver for arrows from 1780, a period hunting horn and ancient coins.

Christopher Bishop has emerged as one of the best young eyes in the field in the past decade. Specializing in Old Master Drawings, he has gained a reputation during this period for important new discoveries. His keen understanding of historical materials and styles has allowed him to uncover an uncanny number of sleepers in the auction houses and private collections of America and Europe. Honed during his years crisscrossing New England to find fresh works, his nose for important, forgotten works is an extension of his study of 17th and 18th century Italian and French art at Yale. Part art of memory, part perseverance, the connoisseurship which he practices is a learned skill reinforced through repetition and discipline.