Jusepe de Ribera

In 1616 Ribera moved to Naples where he soon established a reputation as the best painter in the city.  He received commissions from Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and most importantly the Spanish Viceroys, first the Duke of Osuna and then the Duke of Alcalá. It was for the latter that Ribera executed in the early 1630s some of his most remarkable works, notably the series of Philosophers, among them Euclid (Getty Museum, Los Angeles) and Democritus (Prado, Madrid). Based on the hyper-realistic observation of men in rags, seemingly beggars taken off the street, this was a revolutionary approach to the depiction of famous figures from antiquity. For Alcalá, also, Ribera painted the Bearded Lady. This and the Crippled Child are two remarkable examples of Ribera’s gift for turning seemingly grotesque figures, living on the margins of society, into compelling and dignified personalities.

Ribera’s palette becomes brighter and more silvery from the late 1630s onwards and though he and his extensive workshop continues to paint versions of the Philosophers and the Apostles, he also received prestigious commissions for Neapolitan churches, among them, in 1641, the large altarpiece painted on silvered copper for the Chapel of San Gennaro, the most important sacred site in Naples. An exquisitely delicately colored Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) which recalls the classicism of Guido Reni was completed in 1648, four years before his death. In addition to his prodigious activity as a painter, Ribera was also a highly accomplished engraver.