Jusepe De Ribera

Jusepe de Ribera was a leading Spanish painter and printmaker of the seventeenth century, although he worked for all his known career in Italy. From a young age, Ribera was determined to pursue an artistic career, and by 1613 he had moved to Rome and joined the Academy of Saint Luke. During this time he also encountered various Caravaggisti who similarly flocked to Rome to establish their painterly careers.

Ribera settled in Naples in 1616, which was then a Spanish possession. Being a Spaniard, Ribera immediately became favoured by the Spanish ruling elite in the city, including the Viceroy, for whom he produced several commissions. By the 1620s, Ribera was the leading painter in Naples and even established a kind of monopoly on commissions, producing mainly religious compositions, as well as a number of classical and genre subjects and a few portraits. His prints were also highly sought-after, and won him fame across Europe, especially in his native Spain. 

His style clearly embraces the tenebrism and naturalism of Caravaggio, while his figures also reflect the influence of Guido Reni. Over the course of his career, the artist evolved a wholly unique style, most striking when applied to the physical and psychological sufferings of martyred saints and tortured gods. He rendered realistic and sometimes horrific details in coarse, vigorous brushwork, accentuating the wrinkles, beards, and flesh wounds of his often anguished protagonists.

He counted many notable artists among his pupils, including Luca Giordano and Hendrick de Somer, and his influence can be seen in the works of generations of artist, namely Salvator Rosa, Velázquez and Murillo.