José de Ribera
Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew, c. 1644
Oil on canvas
1644, 202 × 153 cm
Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona
The painting the almost naked apostle Bartholomew looks at us helplessly, while a sadistic drunken executioner delightedly flays him. On the ground, a classical sculpture, which has been identified as the god Baldach, and in the background two priests, their heads covered, are witnesses to the torture. More on this painting
Bartholomew the Apostle was one of the
Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He has been identified with Nathanael, although
some modern commentators reject the identification of Nathanael with
Bartholomew.
Bartholomew was born at Cana of Galilee. Ecclesiastical History states that after the
Ascension, Bartholomew went on a missionary tour to India, where he left behind
a copy of the Gospel of Matthew. Other traditions record him as serving as a
missionary in Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia, and Lycaonia. Popular traditions
and legends say that Bartholomew preached the Gospel in India, then went to
Greater Armenia.
He is said to have been martyred in Albanopolis in Armenia.
According to one account, he was beheaded, but a more popular tradition holds
that he was flayed alive and crucified, head downward. He is said to have
converted Polymius, the king of Armenia, to Christianity. Astyages, Polymius'
brother, consequently ordered Bartholomew's execution. More Bartholomew
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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