Thursday, Week 24: Jusepe de Ribera - Compositional Studies, Oil on Linen (25/06/2020)

Today we travel to Napoli, where the wonderfully dark Jusepe de Ribera, a Spanish-born painter, worked for the majority of his life. Naples was part of the Spanish empire during the 17th century, so Ribera was able to maintain a link with his Spanish painting lineage, while at the same time be influenced by Caravaggio's tenebrism. The result is an incredible painter that was curiously obsessed with Martyrdom paintings. This particular painting is The Martyrdom of St Bartholomew, that was flayed alive by a sadistic executioner. Ribera was eerily attracted to this subject matter, having painted this particular Martyrdom more than once, and having done two paintings of the flaying of Marsyas by the hand of Apollo. So yeah... Ribera had some fiendish interests. Putting that aside, Ribera was one of the most grounded, earthly painters in all of Baroque. There's a humanity in his depictions of people that is nothing short of extraordinary. The character which he saw in his models and inundated his paintings, in my mind can only be rivaled by Rembrandt. But beyond the profoundly sensible way in which he painted weathered flesh, bodies as a testament of both resistance and compliance to time, Ribera composed his paintings beautifully. He was a sort of depressed, dark mannerist if one could conceive that marriage. This particular painting has an abstract arrangement of shapes that is fascinating. He made sure that we went round and round the picture plane almost infinitely. It is in that sense a Martyrdom akin to the torture of Prometheus, comparable to the punishment of Tityus, which Ribera OF COURSE also painted. Dark dude, a gift of a painter to us all. Thank you ALL for your incredible support. Dani and I could not be more grateful. If you like what we're doing, please consider donating :) If you're in a rough spot, no worries, we TOTALLY get it! Just know that our content will ALWAYS be here and our only sponsors are YOU, the wonderful generous people that choose to support us in some way or another. Thank you ALL!!! http://www.ourpaintedlives.com/donations