Search Price Results
Wish

LOT 0083

Hispano-Italian school of the XVII century. "Saint John the Baptist". Oil on canvas.

[ translate ]

17th century Spanish-Italian school.
"Saint John the Baptist".
Oil on canvas.
Size: 96 x 71,5 cm; 104 x 80,5 cm (frame).
In this work, deeply marked by the influence of Francisco de Ribera, the painter portrays St. John the Baptist as a young beardless boy dressed with a white cloth and a red mantle, holding the cross of reeds with the phylactery where it is read "Ecce Agnus Dei", typical of his iconography, and accompanied by the lamb that represents Christ and his sacrifice. The saint appears in the desert, inside a cave enveloped in darkness, which opens up on the right-hand side to show us a nocturnal landscape of great depth, worked with a successful play of light contrasts. This work is part of the school that emerged in 17th-century Spain around the figure of José de Ribera, a key painter who belonged to the generation of the great masters of the Golden Age and was self-taught in Italy. He first came into contact with naturalism when he arrived in Rome in 1615, where he came into contact with the Nordic Caravaggists, from whom he adopted the smooth, hurried technique, ugliness and rigorous drawing that shaped his style during his Roman period. However, in 1616 he moved to Naples and settled there permanently. In Naples Ribera became the leader of the group of Neapolitan naturalists and an important circle of painters grew up around him. Despite his stay in Italy, Ribera sent numerous works to Spain, and his language would play a key role in the development of the Baroque in our country. His work would bring tenebrism and, later, the full Baroque, long before it arrived directly in Spain, thus influencing the new generations of painters. On the other hand, once his Roman period was over, his painting was characterised by a very loose, Venetian-influenced brushstroke, which also influenced the work of his followers. Thus, Ribera's school developed a style of dramatic, contrasting, clearly tenebrist lighting, which is nevertheless tinged by a Venetian brushstroke that is impastoed and fluid. Thus, here we see an artificial, directed spotlight that penetrates the scene from above and directly illuminates the saint's body, leaving the rest in semi-darkness. And we also find that totally modern brushstroke that models the scene using the light, that touch of pasty, expressive brushstroke that the artist may have learned directly from Ribera's work.

[ translate ]

View it on
Estimate
Unlock
Time, Location
25 May 2022
Spain, Barcelona
Auction House
Unlock

[ translate ]

17th century Spanish-Italian school.
"Saint John the Baptist".
Oil on canvas.
Size: 96 x 71,5 cm; 104 x 80,5 cm (frame).
In this work, deeply marked by the influence of Francisco de Ribera, the painter portrays St. John the Baptist as a young beardless boy dressed with a white cloth and a red mantle, holding the cross of reeds with the phylactery where it is read "Ecce Agnus Dei", typical of his iconography, and accompanied by the lamb that represents Christ and his sacrifice. The saint appears in the desert, inside a cave enveloped in darkness, which opens up on the right-hand side to show us a nocturnal landscape of great depth, worked with a successful play of light contrasts. This work is part of the school that emerged in 17th-century Spain around the figure of José de Ribera, a key painter who belonged to the generation of the great masters of the Golden Age and was self-taught in Italy. He first came into contact with naturalism when he arrived in Rome in 1615, where he came into contact with the Nordic Caravaggists, from whom he adopted the smooth, hurried technique, ugliness and rigorous drawing that shaped his style during his Roman period. However, in 1616 he moved to Naples and settled there permanently. In Naples Ribera became the leader of the group of Neapolitan naturalists and an important circle of painters grew up around him. Despite his stay in Italy, Ribera sent numerous works to Spain, and his language would play a key role in the development of the Baroque in our country. His work would bring tenebrism and, later, the full Baroque, long before it arrived directly in Spain, thus influencing the new generations of painters. On the other hand, once his Roman period was over, his painting was characterised by a very loose, Venetian-influenced brushstroke, which also influenced the work of his followers. Thus, Ribera's school developed a style of dramatic, contrasting, clearly tenebrist lighting, which is nevertheless tinged by a Venetian brushstroke that is impastoed and fluid. Thus, here we see an artificial, directed spotlight that penetrates the scene from above and directly illuminates the saint's body, leaving the rest in semi-darkness. And we also find that totally modern brushstroke that models the scene using the light, that touch of pasty, expressive brushstroke that the artist may have learned directly from Ribera's work.

[ translate ]
Estimate
Unlock
Time, Location
25 May 2022
Spain, Barcelona
Auction House
Unlock