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The painting is signed and dated on the stone at the lower right corner: "Jusepe de Ribera español 1633," a formula which Ribera used throughout the 1630s and to which the artist at times added his specific origins, valenciano. The work dates from one of Ribera's most creative periods with regard to both the quality and quantity of works emanating from his studio. Paintings from this period include the group of works for the Convento de las Agustinas Recoletas de Monterrey (1633-1637), the series of Philosophers of 1636 which were commissioned by the Prince of Liechtenstein and are now divided between various collections, the decoration of the Certosa di San Martino in Naples (1637 1638), four mythological paintings including the Apollo and Marsyas (1637) in the Museo Nazionale di San Martino, and religious paintings such as the Blessing of Jacob (1639) and the Dream of Jacob, both now in the Prado.
During the 1630s Ribera's style underwent a transformation in which his palette became lighter, leading to a new neo Venetian concept of colour which had spread from Rome to Naples. However, his figures would remain modelled in a strongly sculptural style with accentuated contrasts of light, tempered according to the subject in hand. This change of colouring was probably influenced to a significant degree by the presence of Flemish painters in Naples such as Rubens and Van Dyck, as well as by the work of painters such as Pietro Novelli who knew the art of Van Dyck and Giovanni Lanfranco.
The present painting dates from a transitional period when Ribera had not totally abandoned his heavily contrasted style of lighting but in which an interest in a new colour range is already evident. The painting, which comes from the collection of the Marqués de Heredia, depicts a subject which Ribera painted throughout his career with numerous variations. The earliest of these is connected with one of the artist's earliest commissions in Naples for Marcantonio Doria and which has been securely identified as the painting now in the National Gallery in London. In the London Lamentation, dated around 1618 1621 and also of horizontal format, Ribera places the dead Christ in the foreground at the moment when Saint John lays Him on the shroud, accompanied by the Virgin and the Magdalen. The Lamentation in the Certosa di San Martino in Naples, dated 1637, shows various similarities with the Thyssen Bornemisza canvas. These include the use of the same models for the Magdalen and Saint John, although they are posed differently due to the different format of the two compositions. The compact central group of the painting in Naples is grouped around the pronounced diagonal formed by the body of Christ, whereas in the present painting the figures arrange themselves along the length of the cloth. The Madrid painting is modelled with an energetic brushstroke and is lit in a selective manner, an approach which undoubtedly strengthens the religious and emotional message which the work conveys.
Mar Borobia
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