This is one of eight head studies by Sebastiano Ricci in the 'Italian List', included in an inventory of pictures bought by George III and understood to form the basis of Consul Smith's collection. All are copies from Veronese's great Feast in the House of Levi (Accademia, Venice), which in Sebastiano's time was in its original location, the refectory of the Dominicans at Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Originally painted as a Last Supper, Veronese's painting was completed in 1573 and renamed The Feast in the House of Levi by the artist following a tribunal of the Inquisition. The heads of the two men, possibly a Scribe or Pharisee and an Apostle, seen here are fairly closely copied from Veronese's original painting, where the elaborately dressed Scribe is seated on the spectator's side of the table, to the right of the central arch, and the Apostle is seen in profile behind him.

Sebastiano probably painted the studies between 1725 and 1730, when Consul Smith was commissioning and buying so much of his work; the artist's studies were well known in his own lifetime and were themselves copied. There exist further comparable heads by Ricci; it may be that Consul Smith originally owned all of the of the copies by Ricci of heads in Veronese's painting, but that for unknown reasons only some were sold to George III. Ricci's copies are painted as sketches - almost as if to suggest preparatory sketches for Veronese's picture, though there cannot have been any attempt to deceive, as it was widely published that Ricci had executed them. Indeed, Zanetti specifically praised them thus in his Descrizione di tutte le pubbliche pitture della Città di Venezia e isole circonvicine published in 1733: 'These heads were copied with pleasure by the famous Sebastiano Ricci some years later, and this may suffice as a seal of truth in respect of what has been said' (Zanetti 1733, p.251).

Adapted from Canaletto & the Art Of Venice, 2017.