Study for "An Apotheosis of a Saint" (for San Bernardino dei Morti, Milan)

The study for An Apotheosis of a Saint was created by Sebastiano Ricci in 1695, as indicated by the work’s internal documentation and confirmed by its Wikidata entry, which also records its dimensions (78.5 cm × 62.8 cm) and medium (oil on canvas).

The painting was commissioned for San Bernardino dei Morti in Milan, aligning with Ricci’s documented activity in Lombardy during the late 17th century. By 1980, the study entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it remains held under accession number 1980.39.

The work is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland. It is cataloged under the accession number 1980.39. The painting, created in 1695, is part of the museum's holdings of Italian oil paintings on canvas.

The provided sources do not contain information regarding specific past or present exhibitions of this study.

Sebastiano Ricci created a preparatory study for the altarpiece An Apotheosis of a Saint intended for Milan's San Bernardino dei Morti around 1695, reflecting his active role in late Baroque religious commissions in Northern Italy. This work demonstrates Ricci's stylistic synthesis of Venetian colorito with dramatic chiaroscuro, positioning him within the broader European Baroque trajectory while anticipating Rococo fluidity; his documented collaboration with contemporaries like Paolo Giordano Ursicino further contextualizes this study within evolving devotional art practices. The piece is housed in the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is cataloged as a significant example of Ricci's draftsmanship and compositional experimentation, underscoring scholarly recognition of his transitional influence between Baroque mastery and emerging decorative trends.

Sebastiano Ricci's preparatory study for the San Bernardino dei Morti altarpiece was acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1980 and has since been cited by scholars as a key example of his late Baroque compositional development. The work's compositional energy and use of chiaroscuro informed subsequent examinations of Ricci's role in mediating Venetian and Central European decorative traditions during the eighteenth century.

The study is regularly referenced in exhibitions on Ricci's influence in Lombardy and is included in scholarly catalogues that trace the transmission of his visual language to later artists working in northern Italy.

Sebastiano Ricci executed this oil study in 1698 as a preparatory sketch for a ceiling fresco intended for the church of San Bernardino dei Morti in Milan. The work anticipates a larger composition that would depict the apotheosis of a saint, and it exemplifies Ricci’s role in the late Baroque period, when Venetian painters were moving toward a brighter, more dynamic visual language.