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Lot Essay
Given to the circle of Baburen by Nicolson in 1979 (loc. cit.), who then upgraded this to a full attribution to Wouter Crabeth, this picture was published in 2003 by Spinosa and Papi as one of a group of early works by Ribera (loc. cit.), painted when the artist was in Rome, and influenced by the French and Flemish followers of Caravaggio in the Eternal City at the time.
Both Papi and Spinosa have pointed out clear stylistic affinities between this picture and the signed Saint Jerome, now in a private collection, Toronto (Spinosa, op. cit., no. A2). Papi points in particular to 'la qualità della pelle, dalla striata rugosità, sudata e illuminata da pennellate di bianco sui contorni muscolari; i capelli scomposti, a ciuffi, la stessa tonalità cromatica del rosso vermiglio dei manti', as well as the correspondence in the arrangement of the books and objects in both pictures.
Papi and Spinosa also compare the present work in style to the Beggar in the Galleria Borghese, Rome, and propose a dating to circa 1612-1613, Spinosa noting the preference of the young Spanish artist in Rome for 'soluciones de vigorosa inclinación naturalista y caravaggesca' (2005, loc. cit.).
Both Papi and Spinosa have pointed out clear stylistic affinities between this picture and the signed Saint Jerome, now in a private collection, Toronto (Spinosa, op. cit., no. A2). Papi points in particular to 'la qualità della pelle, dalla striata rugosità, sudata e illuminata da pennellate di bianco sui contorni muscolari; i capelli scomposti, a ciuffi, la stessa tonalità cromatica del rosso vermiglio dei manti', as well as the correspondence in the arrangement of the books and objects in both pictures.
Papi and Spinosa also compare the present work in style to the Beggar in the Galleria Borghese, Rome, and propose a dating to circa 1612-1613, Spinosa noting the preference of the young Spanish artist in Rome for 'soluciones de vigorosa inclinación naturalista y caravaggesca' (2005, loc. cit.).