Ribera Workshop

17th century Spanish school. Workshop of JOSÉ DE RIBERA (Xátiva, Valencia, 1591 - Naples, 1652).
"The Taste".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Size: 113 x 90 cm; 131 x 107 cm (frame).
This work follows the models of the series "The five senses", painted by José de Ribera when he was in Rome. As did "El Españoleto", the artist of our canvas captures the image in a naturalistic style inspired by Caravaggio, from whom he takes the violent tenebrist lighting and the use of humble figures. Thus, the sense of taste is represented by a man of good eating habits, dressed in a tight-fitting shirt of an undefined colour due to the dirt, seated at an austere wooden table on which we can see a plate of fish, some berries in a cone and a salt cellar. In his left hand he holds a bottle of wine while in his right he holds a glass, the reflections of which have been fantastically captured by Ribera's follower, bringing to mind Velázquez's Sevillian period. The style of this canvas corresponds to Ribera's early period, in which he faithfully follows the dictates of Caravaggio by using a powerful spotlight of bright light from the left, which intensely illuminates the figure, creating an accentuated contrast with the background. Naturalism led the painter to depict each and every detail as faithfully as possible. The brown and dark tones also correspond to the characteristics of this style. The models are people taken from everyday life, humanising the painting, both profane and sacred. Sight and Smell are other companions in the series.
José de Ribera, known as the Españoleto, was a key master of the Spanish Baroque and of European art history in general. Although there are no surviving documentary sources or evidence of his youth, it is thought that he trained with Francisco Ribalta in Valencia, after which he went to Italy, first to the north and later to Rome, where he became acquainted first-hand with the classicists and the tenebrism of the Dutch who settled there. He finally settled in Naples, where he arrived in 1616. This was the beginning of his period of maturity and splendour; Ribera enjoyed fame and a large studio, and his works were disseminated throughout Europe through engravings. He worked for viceroys and high-ranking officials of Spanish origin who settled in Naples, and many of his works soon reached Spain. He was in fact famous in his native country, and in fact Velázquez himself visited him in 1630. Works by Ribera are now held in the Prado, the Louvre, Capodimonte, the Fine Arts Museum in Budapest, the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the Kunsthistorisches and Liechtenstein Museums in Vienna, the J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles, the Art Institute in Chicago, the Metropolitan in New York, the National Gallery and the Royal Collection in London, the Borghese Gallery in Rome and other leading art galleries in Europe, America and Asia.