Oil on canvas,
83.5 x 63cm.
Old frame from the 17th century.
We date this work to the beginning of Marco Ricci's career, around 1700 when he was still influenced by painters such as Salvator Rosa, Magnasco and Peruzzini with whom he collaborated. This influence is manifested by a lively touch, rich in material, sometimes tormented like those the artist uses to execute the sky in blue-gray tones. As for the sky and the clouds, they are treated with an unusual touch, in the shape of a comma, quickly brushed which is sometimes found in his engravings dating from the beginning of his career. These tormented landscapes with imposing, tortuous trees, sometimes uprooted or scratched by successive storms is characteristic of these Neapolitan Baroque landscape painters of the early 18th century.