Jusepe de Ribera
1591-1652
Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew
7 x 5 1/4 inches (177 x 132 mm)
Pen and brown ink and wash, over black chalk, on laid paper. Lined with laid paper.
I, 106
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.
Notes
One of Ribera's favorite subjects was St. Bartholomew, an apostle and missionary who was skinned alive for his Christian faith. The artist depicted Bartholomew's martyrdom in an earlier print, whose composition may have served as a model for this drawing. The distinctive arrangement of figures--from the knife sharpener at far right, to his counterpart binding Bartholomew's legs, to the standing executioner flaying his forearm--lends the drawing an instructional dimension, demonstrating, step by step, how to martyr a saint. The inscription below is not in Ribera's hand but may have been added by a later owner of the sheet. --Exhibition Label, from "Visions and Nightmares: Four Centuries of Spanish Drawings"
On same mat as I, 106a.
See a similarly conceived study for the martyred saint, Teylers Museum, inv. E 021 (van Tuyll, Italian Drawings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries in the Teyler Museum, 2021, no. 719).
On same mat as I, 106a.
See a similarly conceived study for the martyred saint, Teylers Museum, inv. E 021 (van Tuyll, Italian Drawings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries in the Teyler Museum, 2021, no. 719).
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed in pen and brown ink at lower edge, "Giusepe Ribera l'anno 1649".
Watermark: Circle, fragment.
Watermark: Circle, fragment.
Associated names
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Bibliography
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : drawings by the old masters formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 106.
100 Master drawings from the Morgan Library & Museum. München : Hirmer, 2008, no. 36, repr. [Kurt Zeitler]
100 Master drawings from the Morgan Library & Museum. München : Hirmer, 2008, no. 36, repr. [Kurt Zeitler]
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Catalog link
Department