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Lot Essay
This painting probably represents Archimedes, arguably the greatest scientist and mathematician of ancient history. A number of further versions by Ribera and his studio are known, including one of somewhat larger size formerly on the Madrid art market (see N. Spinosa, Ribera: L’opera complete, Naples, 2006, p. 297, no. A90; Madrid, 2008, p. 370, no. A110). Nicola Spinosa has suggested a date of circa 1630 or shortly thereafter for this painting, which is fully signed at lower left. Ribera was at this time engaged in the production of a series of philosophers, geographers and scientists from Classical antiquity for the viceroy of Naples, Fernando Enriquez Afán de Ribera, 3rd Duke of Alcalá. Though the extent of the series is not known, it is presumed to be recorded in its entirety in a series of six copies previously in the Matarrazzo di Licosa collection, which included a painting of this composition (sold Christie's, London, 17 November 1972, lot 45). On account of the success of this series, Ribera and his studio produced replicas to meet market demand in the years that followed. That the present painting is an autograph work is evidenced by its superior quality when compared with works by studio hands and anonymous seventeenth-century copyists.
It was in the early 1630s that Ribera was at the height of his career. By this time he had become the leading painter in Naples, a city that was then at the peak of its power, the second largest urban center in Europe, alive with artistic creativity and a destination for painters from the rest of the Continent. In addition to commissions from local Neapolitan patrons, Ribera provided pictures for a burgeoning market of foreign clients who were drawn to his dramatic, magnetic naturalism executed with startling originality and virtuosity. The intense lighting and focused gaze in the present painting brings an immediacy to the composition that is at once arresting and engaging. Close parallels can be drawn with Ribera’s many depictions of apostles and saints from the end of the 1620s and early 1630s and equally his more humble, somewhat grotesque subjects like the portrait of Magdalena Ventura with her husband and son, known as The Bearded Lady, of 1631 (Fundación Casa Ducal de Medinaceli, on loan to the Museo Fundación Lerma, Toledo).
We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa for his kind assistance in cataloguing this picture. A copy of his expertise dated 22 November 2020 is available upon request.
It was in the early 1630s that Ribera was at the height of his career. By this time he had become the leading painter in Naples, a city that was then at the peak of its power, the second largest urban center in Europe, alive with artistic creativity and a destination for painters from the rest of the Continent. In addition to commissions from local Neapolitan patrons, Ribera provided pictures for a burgeoning market of foreign clients who were drawn to his dramatic, magnetic naturalism executed with startling originality and virtuosity. The intense lighting and focused gaze in the present painting brings an immediacy to the composition that is at once arresting and engaging. Close parallels can be drawn with Ribera’s many depictions of apostles and saints from the end of the 1620s and early 1630s and equally his more humble, somewhat grotesque subjects like the portrait of Magdalena Ventura with her husband and son, known as The Bearded Lady, of 1631 (Fundación Casa Ducal de Medinaceli, on loan to the Museo Fundación Lerma, Toledo).
We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa for his kind assistance in cataloguing this picture. A copy of his expertise dated 22 November 2020 is available upon request.