Saint Dominic Receiving the Rosary from the Virgin Mary

Executed on copper, the painting benefits from the metal’s smooth surface, allowing fine detailing and luminous color transitions. Ghezzi employs a pastel palette of blues, reds, and muted earth tones, creating a delicate atmosphere. The figures are rendered with soft modeling and fluid lines, reflecting the Rococo’s preference for elegance and lightness over dramatic contrast.

Created in 1700, the panel was likely commissioned for a Dominican chapel or private devotional setting in Rome. Though Ghezzi is better known for his caricatures, this work demonstrates his capacity for sacred subjects. The piece entered a museum collection in the late 20th century, where it remains catalogued as a representative example of his religious output.

During the turn of the 18th century, Roman art embraced the Rococo’s ornamental sensibility, moving away from the stark religiosity of the Baroque. Ghezzi, active in the city’s decorative fresco programs, applied these trends to a small‑scale copper work, merging intimate devotional content with the period’s fashionable aesthetic.