Studio of Jusepe de Ribera, called Lo Spagnoletto Játiva, Valencia 1591 - 1652 Naples

This painting is a contemporary replica of Ribera's signed and dated original of 1632 in The Hispanic Society of America, New York (see N. Spinosa, L'opera completa del Ribera, Milan 1978, p. 103, cat. no. 68, reproduced on p. 102, fig. 68). The Hispanic Society picture was conceived as a pendant to a painting of Saint Peter, today in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, and they may have formed part of a larger series, to which a Saint Roch (Museo del Prado, Madrid) and Saint Matthew (Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth) also belonged (see Spinosa, op. cit., p. 103, cat. nos. 67, 69, and 70, all reproduced on p. 102).