| Democritus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Jusepe de Ribera |
| Year | 1630 |
| Medium | oil painting on canvas |
| Movement | Baroque |
| Dimensions | 125 cm× 81 cm(49 in× 32 in) |
| Location | Museo del Prado, Madrid |
Democritus is an oil on canvas painting by Jusepe de Ribera, executed in 1630, now in the Museo del Prado, in Madrid. It is believed to depict the Ancient Greek philosopher Democritus. [1]
Although tradition has always recognized the character portrayed as Archimedes, due to the compass of his hand and the papers with geometric signs that surround him, Delphine Fitz Darby proposed in 1962 to identify him as Democritus, because of the frank smile he shows since, precisely, Democritus he is known as "the philosopher who laughs". It could then be the painting known as Philosopher with Compass, a work whose whereabouts is unknown and is known to have belonged to the Duke of Alcalá, Ribera's main client between 1629 and 1631. In any case, Archimedes or Democritus, the work would be the oldest of the paintings that make the series "Ragged Philosophers". [2]
The first documentary evidence of the work places it in El Escorial in 1764 and later it will become part of the collections of the Prado Museum where it is kept. [3]
The philosopher is portrayed half-length, dressed as a beggar and holding a compass with his right hand, while with his left he holds some papers where some geometric symbols are represented. On the spine of the book, lower right, the signature and the date are written, "Jusepe de Ribera español / F 1630". The painting is cropped on the right side.
His smiling face with deep wrinkles and his bony long-fingered hands are the focus of the composition and are rendered with great fidelity and great naturalism. A light enters from the left, bathing the philosopher's body, which together with a halo of lighter paint around the head and the neutral background highlights him, giving the composition a greater perspective and realism. It is believed that Ribera had a model pose for the picture, possibly someone anonymous found on the street, whom he portrayed as if he were a nobleman or a king.
Nícola Spinosa defines it in the study of his work: "A true portrait of any peasant found in the alleys of viceregal Naples, in which the painter knew how to capture precisely the signs of the ancient Greco-Levantine origin, inserted in a context of irreducible vitality and typically Mediterranean humanity." [4]
Luca Giordano was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples, Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain.
Guido Reni was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious works, but also mythological and allegorical subjects. Active in Rome, Naples, and his native Bologna, he became the dominant figure in the Bolognese School that emerged under the influence of the Carracci.
Jusepe de Ribera was a Spanish painter and printmaker who, along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, is regarded as one of the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring to a series of Ribera exhibitions held in the late 20th century, Philippe de Montebello wrote "If Ribera's status as the undisputed protagonist of Neapolitan painting had ever been in doubt, it was no longer. Indeed, to many it seemed that Ribera emerged from these exhibitions as not simply the greatest Neapolitan artist of his age but one of the outstanding European masters of the seventeenth century." Jusepe de Ribera has also been referred to as José de Ribera, Josep de Ribera, and Lo Spagnoletto by his contemporaries, early historians, and biographers.
Juan de Pareja was a Spanish painter born in Antequera, near Málaga, Spain. He is known primarily as a member of the household and workshop of painter Diego Velázquez, who enslaved him until 1650. His 1661 work The Calling of Saint Matthew is on display at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain.
Giovanni Battista Caracciolo (1578–1635) was an Italian artist and important Neapolitan follower of Caravaggio. He was a member of the murderous Cabal of Naples, with Belisario Corenzio and Giambattista Caracciolo, who were rumoured to have poisoned and disappeared their competition for painting contracts.
Aristotle is a 1637 oil painting by Spanish artist Jusepe de Ribera, located in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which is in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is part of a series of six portraits of ancient philosophers commissioned by the Prince of Liechtenstein in 1636.
Pietro Cussida, Pietro Cuside or Pedro Cossida was a Spanish diplomat in the service of Philip III of Spain and his successor, Philip IV. He was an art collector and patron, known for his patronage of Caravaggisti artists, including Jusepe de Ribera and Dirck van Baburen.
Bartolomeo Passante or Bassante was an Italian painter of the Baroque era active in Naples.
The Pietà is a painting by José de Ribera, "The Españoleto", painted, signed and dated in 1633.
Hercules Separates Mounts Calpe and Abylla is a work by Francisco de Zurbarán, created in 1634.
The Martyrdom of Saint Philip is a painting by Jusepe de Ribera from 1639.
The Fable is a 1580 allegorical painting by El Greco, produced early in his Toledan period and now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
The Flight into Egypt is a c.1570 painting of the Flight into Egypt by El Greco, now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. It is one of his earliest works, dating to his stay in Venice, and shows the major influence of Tintoretto and Jacopo Bassano, especially in the landscape background. The clouds and the chromaticism are similar to his Healing of the Man Born Blind, though most of the tonalities show the influence of Raphael and Michelangelo.
Tityos is a 1632 painting, signed and dated by Jusepe de Ribera and showing the torture inflicted on the giant Tityos. It was part of a series of four paintings - the other three showed the tortures of Sisyphus, Tantalus and Ixion, but only those of Tityos and Ixion still survive, both now in the Prado Museum in Madrid.
Ixion is a 1632 oil painting, signed and dated by Jusepe de Ribera. It shows a scene from Classical mythology, of Ixion being tortured as the eternal punishment meted out by Zeus. It is one of a series of four paintings by Ribera of the four "Furies" or "Condemned" from Greek mythology. It is held by the Museo del Prado in Madrid, along with Ribera's painting of Tityos; the other two, of Sisyphus and Tantalus, are lost.
Isaac and Jacob is an oil on canvas painting by Jusepe de Ribera, executed in 1637, which since 1918 has been in the Prado Museum in Madrid.
The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew is a 1628 painting by Jusepe de Ribera. It depicts the martyrdom of Saint Andrew, one of the Twelve Apostles.
The Earthly Trinity with Saints and God the Father are a pair of c.1626-c.1635 oil on canvas paintings by Jusepe de Ribera, both now in the Museo nazionale di Capodimonte in Naples. Along with the Holy Family, the main work shows Bruno of Cologne, Benedict of Nursia, Bernardino of Siena and Bonaventure.
The Blind Sculptor is an oil on canvas painting by José de Ribera, signed and dated to 1632. Its origins are unknown - the first documentary reference to the work is a 1764 inventory of the collections at El Escorial, from which it moved to its present home at the Prado Museum in 1837.
