Man met wolfsoren ziet op naar dierenriem 1686 - 1779

Marco Ricci created this pen and wash drawing of a man with wolf ears gazing at the zodiac sometime between 1696 and 1730. Ricci was Venetian, but he spent a significant portion of his career in England, where his uncle, Sebastiano Ricci, was already a celebrated artist. In this drawing, we see how the artist blended Venetian theatricality with the fashion for classical subjects that was so common at the time. The wolf-eared man stares up at the night sky, but what does it mean? The zodiac was associated with the science of astrology, which, in turn, was bound up with alchemy and the occult. We know that intellectuals in Venice and London were fascinated by these hermetic traditions. Ricci's image is highly enigmatic, but what we know about the social and intellectual life of his time helps us to unravel its secrets. The role of the art historian is to explore these contexts through research into primary sources and archival materials, which might one day unlock the mysteries of this curious drawing.