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

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Ribera, Jusepe (José) de

Ribera, Jusepe (José) de