Jusepe (José) de Ribera
Man Holding a Candlestick
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National Galleries of Scotland collection. Photo, National Galleries of Scotland.
Jusepe (José) de Ribera, Man Holding a Candlestick
About this artwork
The reception of Dürer’s The Circumcision was neither restricted to Northern Europe or the sixteenth century, as this drawing of a man holding a candlestick demonstrates. The artist shows the figure isolated against a background of partly ruined architectural features. Until now, this had been classified as an anonymous German copy after Dürer. However, has been re-identified as Neapolitan, from around 1620 - 1630, with a tentative attribution to Jusepe de Ribera. It is in the nature of a copy that the copyist has to disguise his own identity to an extent in terms of technique. However, there are parallels in Ribera’s work for the use of a broad pen and hatching. Also, the sketchy figure holding a trident on top of the column particularly resembles similar creatures in Ribera drawings.
Updated before 2020
- Artist:
- Jusepe (José) de Ribera (1591 - 1652) Spanish
- Title:
- Man Holding a Candlestick
- Date:
- Unknown
- Materials:
- Broad reed pen and black ink on paper
- Measurements:
- 42.30 x 27.80 cm
- Object type:
- Work on paper
- Credit line:
- David Laing Bequest to the Royal Scottish Academy transferred 1910
- Accession number:
- D 1164
True colours
Jusepe (José) de Ribera
Ribera was born in the province of Valencia in Spain, but was in Rome by 1606 and spent the rest of his life in Italy, where he was known as Lo Spagnoletto. Early on Ribera developed a powerfully naturalistic style much indebted to the mature works of Caravaggio. His output during his Roman period…
