José de Ribera, Xátiva, Valencia, 1591 - Naples, Italy, 1652
Saint Sebastian Tended by the Holy Women, c. 1621
Oil on canvas
180.3 x 231.6 cm
BILBAO FINE ARTS MUSEUM
In the large canvas, the figure of the saint lies naked on the ground, one arm still suspended from the tree of martyrdom. The holy women Irene and Lucilla tend the saint, one of them removing the arrows and the other holding the jar of ointment. Two little angels bearing the crown and the palm of martyrdom hover above them. More on this canvas
Saint Sebastian (died c. 288
AD) was an early Christian saint and
martyr. Sebastian had prudently concealed his faith, but in 286 was
detected. Diocletian reproached him for his betrayal, and he commanded him to
be led to a field and there to be bound to a stake so that archers from
Mauritania would shoot arrows at him. "And the archers shot at him till he
was as full of arrows as an urchin is full of pricks, and thus left him there
for dead." Miraculously, the arrows did not kill him.
Sebastian later stood by a staircase where the emperor
was to pass and harangued Diocletian for his cruelties against Christians. This
freedom of speech, and from a person whom he supposed to have been dead,
greatly astonished the emperor; but, recovering from his surprise, he gave
orders for his being seized and beat to death with cudgels, and his body thrown
into the common sewer. A pious lady, called Lucina, admonished by the martyr in
a vision, got it privately removed, and buried it in the catacombs at the
entrance of the cemetery of Calixtus, where now stands the Basilica of St.
Sebastian. More St.
Sebastian
José de Ribera (January 12, 1591 – September 2,
1652) was a Spanish Tenebrist
painter and printmaker, better known as Jusepe de Ribera. He also was called Lo
Spagnoletto ("the Little Spaniard") by his contemporaries and early
writers. Ribera was a leading painter of the Spanish school, although his
mature work was all done in Italy.
Ribera was born at Xàtiva, Spain. He was baptized on February 17, 1591. He is said to have apprenticed with the Spanish painter Francisco Ribalta in Valencia. Longing to study art in Italy, he made his way to Rome in 1611. Roman artists gave him the nickname "Lo Spagnoletto".
Very little documentation survives from his early years. Ribera was living in Rome no later than 1612, and is documented as having joined the Academy of Saint Luke by 1613. He lived for a time in the Via Margutta, and almost certainly associated with other Caravaggisti who flocked to Rome at that time. In 1616, Ribera moved to Naples. In November, 1616, Ribera married Caterina Azzolino, the daughter of a Sicilian-born Neapolitan painter, Giovanni Bernardino Azzolino, whose connections in the Neapolitan art world helped to establish Ribera early on as a major figure.
Although Ribera never returned to Spain, many of his paintings were taken back by returning members of the Spanish governing class. From 1644, Ribera suffered serious ill-health, although his workshop continued to produce works under his direction. In 1647–1648, during the Masaniello rising against Spanish rule, he felt forced for some months to take his family with him into refuge in the palace of the Viceroy. In 1651 he sold the large house he had owned for many years, and when he died on September 2, 1652, he was in serious financial difficulties. More on José de Ribera
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