Jusepe de Ribera, called Lo Spagnoletto and Workshop

Possibly the Duke of Salvatierra;

IRSA, Verlagsanstalt, Vienna, 30 April 1990, when acquired by the late owner.

Naples, Castello di San Martino, Jusepe de Ribera, 27 February – 17 May 1992, no. 143 (as Ribera).

Possibly A. Palomino de Castro y Velasco, El Museo Pictórico y Escala Optica, Madrid 1947, pp. 877–78 (as Ribera);

C. Felton, 'Ribera's Hercules Resting Rediscovered', in Apollo, vol. 131, June 1990, pp. 374–81, reproduced p. 375 (as Ribera);

C. Felton, 'Out of the Shadows: Jusepe Ribera', in Apollo, vol. 136, September 1992, pp. 142 and 146, note 4 (as Ribera, datable 1625);

A. Pérez Sánchez, Jusepe de Ribera; 1591–1652, exhibition catalogue, Naples 1992, p. 184, cat. no. 143, reproduced in colour in reverse p. 186 (as Ribera; incorrect measurements given);

N. Spinosa and D. M. Pagano, I Profeti di San Martino, Naples 1992, p. 17, note 3 (as a copy after a lost original);

N. Spinosa, Ribera, L'opera completa, Naples 2003, p. 349, cat. no. B14 (as a copy after a lost original; incorrect measurements given);

N. Spinosa, Ribera, la obra completa, Madrid 2008, p. 519, cat. no. D.14 (with incorrect measurements and image, and as a copy after a lost original).

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Jusepe de Ribera and workshop. Hercules. This painting has an old lining which may be at least double, with a fairly old stretcher that has been mended at the top left corner with a short metal backing brace. The canvas has a squared Roman weave and has been extended on all sides by about 5cm of lumpy retouching, to fit the magnificent frame. A film of old varnish, opaque under ultra violet light, has been left probably wisely across the darks. A small old indented damage can be seen in the lower background beneath the thigh, and another about 5cm square at upper right has been retouched, also in the background. Most of the flesh areas have been quite recently cleaned. There are a few minor earlier retouchings along a few old drips (horizontal, presumably from storage on its side) with various more recent small retouchings in the chest including a horizontal series of little retouches from the side of the chest across to the elbow. The hand has some small retouched adjustments. The two major muscles across the central body have also had a bit of strengthening retouching. Elsewhere however the modelling of the chest is extremely strong and beautifully unworn. The head itself is also very fine, with one small retouching by the end of the nose but with the rich darks of the shadows and the wrinkled forehead in supremely good condition. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"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 large and impressive depiction of Hercules resting from his labours was only rediscovered in 1990 but may be the painting referred to by Palomino as early as 1724 in the collection of the Duke of Salvatierra (see Literature). The composition was already known through an old copy of similar dimensions but of significantly inferior quality which was always presumed to be based on a lost original by Ribera and which has at times been attributed to Luca Giordano.¹ Probably datable to circa 1630, around the time Ribera painted his series of Giants, including the Ixion and the Tityus in the Prado, the Johnson Hercules is a celebration of corporality and power: the strength and presence of the Greek hero is accentuated by the way he fills the pictorial space and by the close interest Ribera pays to the sheer physicality of the body and the musculature.²

Soon after the painting's re-emergence it was both published and exhibited as a fully autograph work by Ribera, initially by Felton (see Literature). A related drawing formerly in the Chauchi collection in Rabat, Malta, and now in the Mdina Museum in the same city, confirms to what extent Ribera had thought about the subject (see fig. 1);³that there should be distinct changes in design between the drawing and the final painting is quite common in Ribera's œuvre. In both the painting and the drawing the massive figure is shown seated and accompanied by his club and lion skin, his brow furrowed after his exertions.

Since Felton's publications and the 1992 exhibition where the painting was presented with a full attribution to Ribera, it has been proposed by Professor Nicola Spinosa that it may in fact be a studio work after a lost original. While the overall quality is not homogenous, it seems unlikely that the workshop would have executed a painting of this size and quality without the master taking a close interest and making a significant contribution. For example, the quality of the head and torso are of greater impact than the hands, while the disposition of the legs is perhaps less convincing than one might expect from Ribera at this date, but the painting overall clearly exceeds the quality of a mere studio production. The most plausible scenario is that the Johnson picture is indeed the prototype of the composition, conceived with the Malta drawing in mind, but was executed by Ribera with studio help. It would thus follow that the painting in Castres, which is of considerably weaker quality, is a reproduction after the present work reproduced entirely by the studio. 

 

1. On deposit at the Musée Goya in Castres from the Louvre; see N. Spinosa, Ribera, L'opera completa, Milan 1979, p. 127, cat. no. 229, reproduced, where listed as possibly by Francesco Fracanzano.
2. See Spinosa, 2008, under Literature, pp. 392–93, cat. nos. A164 and A165, both reproduced.
3. See J. Brown, Jusepe de Ribera, Prints and Drawings, Princeton 1973, p. 168, cat. no. 22, reproduced p. 200, plate 49.