Neapolitan school, ca.1630.

Neapolitan School, ca.1630.
"Allegory of foolishness".
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 83 x 103 cm; 98 x 117 cm (frame).

This is an enigmatic work in terms of theme and masterful in terms of technique. Stylistically, this oil painting is a paradigmatic example of the Neapolitan painting of the middle of the Seicento, deeply marked by the influence of Caravaggio. With a crude language, yet suggestive and brimming with symbolism, this magnificent painting develops a complex baroque allegory about human nature, old age and false wisdom. It uses a powerful and naturalistic visual language to pose a moral reflection, a very common practice among the artists of the circle of José de Ribera "El Españoleto" and the Neapolitan school of the seventeenth century.

However, this painting is a departure from the traditional singeries, paintings in which the monkeys were limited to emulating human behavior. The reading of this scene is more elusive.

Three figures emerge from a black background, sculpted by an intense and directed light, which creates strong hallmarks and highlights especially the features. This tenebrist light imbues the scene with an intimate atmosphere charged with dramatic tension.

The old man is characterized with an extremely expressive verism. The deep wrinkles that furrow his face and forehead, the hooked nose, the texture of the graying beard and the eyes flashing with a sickly gleam are detailed. Neapolitan artists, following Caravaggio, did not idealize their figures. On the contrary, they sought veracity in order to generate a direct and emotional impact on the viewer.

The old man's parchment-like face contrasts with the smoothness of the child's skin and his innocent, almost dumbfounded expression. The expression of the child's father is significant and ambiguous: between trusting and suspicious.

The scene is presented in the foreground, with the figures close together, which accentuates the impression made by each character and the interweaving of glances. The monkey introduces a disturbing counterpoint, clinging to the old man's head, riding on his back and appearing to be delousing him. The remarkable plasticity with which the animal fur and the ape-like head are resolved is remarkable.

Although the presence of a child and the venerable attitude of the old man could suggest a religious scene, such as the life of a saint, the figure of the monkey places us in a profane environment: undoubtedly, the painting is an allegorical or genre scene with a deep moralizing charge.

In Baroque art, the monkey was a multipurpose symbol, but almost always with negative connotations. It represented sin and vices, especially lust, greed and vanity. The monkey was seen as a caricature of the human being, an "ape" of his actions that embodied his baser instincts and his animal and sinful nature. It was also assimilated to madness and folly.

Here, the action of the ape, who appears to be delousing the old man, was a common motif in Northern European and also Neapolitan genre painting. Although it may appear to be a caring gesture, it was interpreted as a useless distraction, a symbol of the foolishness of paying attention to trivial matters.

With these symbols in mind, the painting admits different interpretations, which, far from being mutually exclusive, enrich each other. In the first place, an allegory of the vice endemic to the human being: the old man, in the final stage of his life, carries on his shoulders the weight of his sinful nature. The monkey, picking at his head, could symbolize the follies that dominate him even in his old age.

Considering the other characters, the scene could represent the three ages of man (child, youth, old man). The old man, with his experience, is not yet free from the burdens of life (the monkey). The young man presents the child to the old man, perhaps in search of a blessing that, ironically, the old man himself cannot give as he is "dominated" by the animal.

Thirdly, we could be looking at a critique of false wisdom: the old man could represent a false pagan sage or philosopher. The monkey in his head would ridicule his supposed wisdom, suggesting that, despite his venerable appearance, his thoughts are corrupted by foolishness or vice.