School of JOSÉ DE RIBERA (Xátiva, Valencia, 1591 - Naples, 1652). "Head of Saint John...

School of JOSÉ DE RIBERA (Xátiva, Valencia, 1591 - Naples, 1652). "Head of Saint John the Baptist". Oil on canvas. Relined. Measurements: 46 x 63,5 cm.

School of JOSÉ DE RIBERA (Xátiva, Valencia, 1591 - Naples, 1652).
"Head of Saint John the Baptist".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 46 x 63,5 cm.
In this canvas the author deals with a theme of great dramatism, very much in accordance with the popular sensibility of the Spain of the time, strongly influenced by the Counter-Reformation, which demanded from the art a realistic language so that the faithful could understand and identify with what was represented, and an expression endowed with an intense emotional content to increase the fervour and devotion of the people. Thus we see the decapitated head of the Baptist, placed on the silver tray on which it was given to Salome. However, there are no narrative elements to tell the story; it is a static, devotional composition in which we see only the severed head on the tray placed on a table dressed in a rich red cloth. The space is undefined and closed, with a dark background worked in neutral tones against which the saint's head stands out, strongly illuminated by a light of Tenebrist heritage, directed and contrasted, which leaves the secondary areas of the composition in semi-darkness, focusing the viewer's attention on the saint's dead face.
From its subject matter and style we can situate this painting within the Neapolitan school of the 17th century around the figure of José de Ribera, a key painter belonging to the generation of the great masters of the Golden Age, trained in Italy as a self-taught artist. 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 the upper right corner and directly illuminates the saint's face and hands, leaving the rest in semi-darkness. And we also find that totally modern brushstroke that models the saint by means of the light, that touch of pasty, expressive brushstroke that the artist learned directly from Ribera's work.