The Young Ribera

The Museo del Prado is presenting The Young Ribera, a survey of Ribera’s activity during his period in Rome and in the years following his arrival in Naples in 1616. This is a period of Ribera’s career that was almost completely unknown until recently and one that is the subject of an extremely interesting debate among art historians. Featuring more than thirty works, the exhibition will allow for comparisons between the most important paintings currently considered to date from the period in question and will focus on their dating and role in the development of Roman Caravaggesque painting in the second and third decades of the 17th century. Among the works on display is The Raising of Lazarus, acquired by the Museo del Prado in 2001 and now considered to be one of the key reference points in the debate on Ribera’s early artistic activities.

Within the context of recent research on Spanish painting, the reconstruction of Ribera’s activities from 1610 to 1622, during his time in Rome and the early years of his period in Naples, is of particular importance. Over the last ten years there have been considerable advances in our knowledge and interpretation of this early phase of his career. New studies have contributed previously unpublished data on the places where the Valencian artist lived, his circle of clients and his financial situation. Most significantly, however, stylistic analysis and new documentary information has meant that Ribera can now be identified as the previously anonymous “Master of the Judgment of Solomon”, allowing for the addition of several dozen works to his oeuvre. With regard to the Museo del Prado, the general importance of an exhibition that offers an in-depth focus on Ribera, one of the Spanish artists best represented in its collections, is combined with the fact that it will enable a very precise context to be established for a study and assessment of The Raising of Lazarus. Although the subject of considerable debate at the time of its acquisition in 2001, the attribution to Ribera is now generally accepted. Most of the works by Ribera in the Prado are much later in date, as a result of which the present exhibition will provide an ideal occasion for fully analysing and appreciating this great painting and assessing its outstanding significance within the context of the artist’s early career.

The more than thirty works on display have been loaned by museums and collections in Spain, Italy, France, the UK, Mexico, Switzerland, Hungary and the USA. They include examples of paintings from the two principal series that Ribera executed during this period (the “Apostle Series” and “The Five Senses”), as well as the more complex compositions that he produced in Rome and Naples. As a result, the exhibition will allow visitors to discover the subjects that most interested the young painter and to understand the way in which his style evolved and developed to the point where Ribera became one of the most original and powerful naturalist painters subsequent to Caravaggio. The installation of the exhibition in the light and flexible space of Room C in the Prado will reveal relationships and comparisons between the paintings and create a discourse that explains the directions in which Ribera’s art moved. This is particularly important, as it will allow for an appreciation of the remarkable way that the artist’s work changed and evolved since its outset, explaining why many of his early works were for many years attributed to the anonymous "Master of the Judgment of Solomon".

In addition to new suggestions regarding the dating and chronology of Ribera’s works and the relationship between them, the research undertaken for the preparation of this exhibition has resulted in the identification of a previously unknown work by the artist. Following its restoration, it will be presented in the exhibition as a new work by Ribera, while it is also the subject of a text in the accompanying catalogue by Antonio Vannugli, who was responsible for the research that has resulted in the attribution of this early painting. The exhibition has benefited from the involvement of various specialists at the Museo del Prado, including José Milicua, professor emeritus of Art History at the University of Barcelona and member of the Museum’s Royal Board of Trustees, Gabriele Finaldi, Associate Director of Curatorship, and Javier Portús, Chief Curator of Spanish Painting up to 1700 and curator of the exhibition. It has also benefitted from the participation of the two leading experts who are currently revising this crucial period within Ribera’s career: Gianni Papi and Nicola Spinosa, both of whom have contributed to the catalogue.

The Young Ribera
José de Ribera
Kurator: Javier Portús