Sebastiano Ricci was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 painter of the late Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 school of Venice. About the same age as Piazzetta

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta was an Italian rococo painter of religious subjects and genre scenes.-Biography:...

, and an elder contemporary of Tiepolo

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo , also known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice...

, he represents a late version of the vigorous and luminous Cortonesque

Pietro da Cortona

Pietro da Cortona, by the name of Pietro Berrettini, born Pietro Berrettini da Cortona, was the leading Italian Baroque painter of his time and also one of the key architects in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture. He was also an important decorator...

 style of grand manner fresco painting.
He was born in Belluno

Belluno

Belluno , is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about 100 kilometres north of Venice, Belluno is the capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomiti's region. With its roughly 37,000 inhabitants, it the largest populated area...

, son of Andreana and Livio Ricci. In 1671, he apprenticed to Federico Cerebri of Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

. Others claim Ricci’s first master was Sebastiano Mazzoni

Sebastiano Mazzoni

Sebastiano Mazzoni was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.Born in Florence, he trained in that city during 1632-33 in the studio of Baccio del Bianco. He then moved to Venice in 1648, and stayed there till his death. He painted a somewhat unusual Annunciation with a hovering ghostly angel...

. In 1678, a youthful indiscretion led to an unwanted pregnancy, and ultimately to a greater scandal, when Ricci was accused of attempting to poison the young pregnant woman to avoid marriage.