Jusepe de Ribera, called Spagnoletto

With Manuel Gonzalez, Madrid;
Acquired from the above by the present owners in the 1990s.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The canvas has been lined onto a keyed wooden stretcher and this is ensuring an even and secure structural support and has successfully secured the overall pattern of fine lines of drying craquelure. The craquelure pattern is entirely stable. Paint Surface The paint surface has a reasonably even varnish layer although there is slight frame rubbing on the sight edges and very small abrasions in the lower left corner. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows the varnish layers to be very opaque and the only retouchings which are identifiable under ultra-violet light are: 1) an area in the upper left of the background which measures approximately 6 x 2.5 cm, 2) a number of very small spots and lines of inpainting which are most concentrated along the lower horizontal framing edge. There may well be an earlier phase of retouching beneath the older opaque varnish layers which is not identifiable under ultra-violet light. The retouching mentioned above in the upper left of the background has discoloured and is visible in natural light, and could be improved with more careful inpainting. A few very small spots of inpainting are visible under magnification on the flesh tones of Christ. These have also slightly discoloured and are visible in strong natural light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in good and stable condition but the extent of retouchings applied in the past is difficult to access due to the nature of the varnish layers.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This is a characteristic work by Ribera from the early 1630s, a time when the artist was well-settled in Naples and firmly established as the greatest exponent of the physical naturalism for which Neapolitan painting would be famed in the seventeenth century. Ribera’s single-figure subjects, which account for the vast majority of his œuvre, are invariably depictions of men at an age that allowed the artist to masterfully express, through wrinkled brows, sunken eyes and rugous, well-worn knuckles, the effects on the face and hands of a life well-lived. Here, however, he depicts a youthful Christ, his skin smooth and his hair silken.  It is however an image based on the realism for which he always strove, the two folded fingers, for example, revealing dirt under their nails. In both execution and design it is broadly comparable to a painting of the same subject in the Prado, also datable circa 1630–32, and to the depiction of St. James the Lesser from the same series, also in the Prado. All three faces share the same extended, very straight nose and sharply delineated eyes.¹

We are grateful to Prof. Nicola Spinosa for endorsing the attribution to Ribera following first-hand inspection of the original and for his concurrence with a date of execution circa 1630–32.

1. See N. Spinosa, Ribera, La Obra Completa, Madrid 2008, p. 374, cat. no. A121, and p. 377, cat. no. A128, respectively, both reproduced. Or for images in colour see Todo el Prado, Madrid 1996, p. 108, fig. 306 and p. 110, fig. 312.