José de Ribera and his workshop

JOSÉ DE RIBERA (Xátiva, Valencia, 1591 – Naples, 1652) and workshop.
“The Sense of Smell.”
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Work viewed by Nicola Spinosa.
Measurements: 112 x 89.5 cm; 126.5 x 104 cm (frame).
In this work, the artist has rendered the image in a naturalistic style inspired by Caravaggio, employing his dramatic tenebrist lighting and humble figures. The piece faithfully follows the work “The Sense of Smell,” which was created between 1613 and 1616 by José Ribera during his stay in Rome, in a style inspired by Caravaggio and Flemish painting. The piece currently belongs to the Abelló private collection. In the work, one can observe how Caravaggio’s influence blends with aesthetic characteristics typical of Flemish art, which the artist was familiar with thanks to his close relationship with his neighbors on Via Margutta. The iconography of the painting has undergone a significant change, moving away from the elegant and complex depictions of the Five Senses painted in the Netherlands, which are among the most famous. The Valencian master depicts a beggar holding an onion that is making him cry. On the table, we see another onion and a head of garlic, contrasting their foul odor with the orange branch lying next to them. The intense and direct lighting used accentuates the hallmarks of light and shadow and creates a pronounced diagonal on the wall, similar to that created by Caravaggio in *The Calling of Saint Matthew* for Saint Louis of the French. The naturalism with which he depicts the figure almost borders on the grotesque, demonstrating Ribera’s ability to portray all kinds of characters. It is curious to compare this image with Brueghel’s “Five Senses” series, as Ribera replaces Flemish elegance with a new vision that feels closer to the viewer.
José de Ribera, known as “El Españoleto,” was a key master of the Spanish Baroque and, more broadly, of European art history. Although no documentary sources or evidence of his youth have survived, it is believed that he trained with Francisco Ribalta in Valencia, after which he traveled to Italy, first passing through the north and later through Rome, where he encountered firsthand the classicists and the tenebrism of the Dutch artists settled there. He eventually settled in Naples, where he arrived in 1616. This marked the beginning of his period of maturity and splendor; Ribera enjoyed fame and ran a large workshop, and his works spread throughout Europe via engravings. He worked for viceroys and high-ranking officials of Spanish origin based in Naples, which is why many of his works soon found their way to Spain. He was, in fact, famous in his native country, and Velázquez himself would visit him in 1630. Works by Ribera are currently housed in the Prado Museum, the Louvre, the Capodimonte Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery and the Royal Collection in London, the Borghese Gallery in Rome, and other prominent art museums in Europe, the Americas, and Asia.