Rehearsal of an opera

Marco Ricci, 1676–1729

ca. 1709

Oil on canvas

Yale Center for British Art

A group of musicians and elegantly dressed individuals are gathered in a room, with some playing instruments and others observing. A large framed painting of a seascape hangs on the wall above them. The Venetian painter Marco Ricci first visited London between 1708 and 1710–11, probably to paint scenery for the Queen’s Theatre, Haymarket. During this time he created a series of these small pictures of musical performances in domestic interiors. They have traditionally been identified as rehearsals for one of the Italian operas that were much in vogue in London at the time. Ricci’s paintings are, however, just as likely to represent private concerts by leading musicians associated with the opera. The man with the outstretched arm at the center of the composition is thought to be Nicola Grimaldi, known as Nicolini, one of the fir