Follower of Jose de Ribera

Follower of JOSÉ DE RIBERA (Xátiva, Valencia, 1591 - Naples, 1652); XVIII century.
"Pietà".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 98.5 x 138 cm; 113 x 150 cm (frame).
The scene of the lamentation or weeping over the body of the dead Christ is part of the cycle of the Passion, and is interspersed between the Descent from the Cross and the Holy Burial. It narrates the moment in which the body of Christ is placed on a shroud (in other cases, on the stone of anointing) and they are arranged around him, bursting into lamentations and sobs, his mother, St. John, the holy women, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. In this case the author differs from the traditional representation by substituting the figure of Mary for an angel holding the body of Christ. The scene is completed with the presence of two little lovers who add a certain anecdote to the scene.
The exacerbated foreshortening of the body of Jesus, added to the luminous contrast of the background of ochre tones on which the snowy figure of Christ stands out, indicate that we are dealing with an artist of evident Neapolitan Baroque influence, specifically the work of José de Ribera.
José de Ribera, a key painter belonging to the generation of the great masters of the Golden Age, self-taught in Italy. His first contact with naturalism took place with his arrival in Rome in 1615, where he came into contact with the Nordic Caravaggists, from whom he adopted the smooth and hurried technique, the feísmo and the rigorous drawing, characteristics that shaped his style in his Roman period. However, in 1616 he went to Naples and settled there permanently. In this city Ribera will become the head of the group of Neapolitan naturalists, and around him an important circle of painters will be created. In spite of being in Italy, Ribera will send numerous works to Spain, so that his language will be key for the formation of the baroque in our country. His work will bring the tenebrism and, later, the full baroque, long before it will arrive directly to Spain, thus influencing the new generations of painters. On the other hand, once his Roman period was over, his painting would be characterized by a very loose brushstroke, with Venetian influence, which would also mark the work of his followers. Thus, the school of Ribera developed a style of dramatic and contrasting illumination, clearly tenebrist, nuanced however by a Venetian brushstroke, impastoed and fluid. Thus, here we see an artificial and directed spotlight that penetrates the scene through the upper right corner and directly illuminates the face and hands of the saint, leaving the rest in semi-darkness. And we also find that completely modern brushstroke that models the light, that touch of doughy and expressive brush that the author has learned directly from the work of Ribera.