朱塞普·德·里貝拉 - 或稱斯班紐雷拖之工作室

Possibly the Abbé Dujardin, Bruges;
His sale, London, Christie's, 8 June 1853, lot 80.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work has been well restored. The kind of canvas used by the artist has a fairly noticeable grid-like pattern. There are some restorations, but certainly not as many as one often see in works from this period. There is a fairly large loss in the hair and around the cheekbone on the left side of the jaw, measuring about 4 inches square. There is another smaller loss in the background to the left of the head. Retouches are fairly numerous along the bottom edge, extending into the table top and fish in the lower left. The figure himself is in very good state; the retouches here are almost all are focused on a few of the most noticeable cracks, with a slight concentration in the chest to the left of center. Overall, the condition is good.
"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 one of the best surviving versions of a composition by Ribera from around 1630, the original of which is lost. Other versions include that formerly in the Fangi collection in Milan and now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Narbonne;¹ that recorded in the collection of Ernst von Schoen-Wildenegg in Berlin in 1925; another in the Strelenhkie collection in Stockholm; and finally that last recorded with Thomas Harris in London in 1935.² The dimensions of this painting differ slightly from these other works whose dimensions are known. However they accord closely with those of a further work (130 by 103 cm.) not listed by Spinosa, which was recorded in the collection of the Abbé Dujardin in Bruges and later sold in London in 1853, and it is very possible that this may be that work. That painting was said to have come from the Seminary of the Jesuits in Sorrento near Naples.  A variant, in which the general pose and head of the saint remain unchanged, but in which the right arm is drawn across his breast and the left hand holds the fish, is also known in various versions, the best of which may be that sold New York, Sotheby's, 7 June 1984, lot 43.

1. Canvas, 127 by 98 cm. N. Spinosa, Ribera. L'opera completa, Naples 2003, p. 348, cat no. B10, reproduced.
2. Whereabouts currently unknown. The Schoen-Wildenegg canvas measured 129 by 99 cm.