Francesco Pasquale Ricci straddled two worlds: Italy, his homeland, where he received his education and where he had his first professional experiences, and Europe, which would be the stage of his bold artistic affirmation and the consolidation of a vast and complex network of personal relationships. Ricci’s European excursion, occasionally interrupted by visits to Italy, lasted sixteen years.

While not as lengthy as that of many of his countrymen and ending, unlike the careers of many Itali...