Francesc Ribalta (2 June 1565 – 12 January 1628), also known as ''Francisco Ribaltá'' or ''de Ribalta'', was a Spanish painter of the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

period, mostly of religious subjects.

Biography

He was born in

Solsona, Lleida Solsona is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality and capital of the Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' of the Solsonès in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the centre of the ''comarca'' in the Catalan Central Depress ...

. Although his first apprenticeship was apparently with Navarrete, who worked for years in the

Escorial El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( es, Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial en Madrid), or Monasterio del Escorial (), is a historical residence of the King of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, up ...

, Ribalta's earliest work (a ''Cruxifixion'' of 1582) was signed in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. After his years in Madrid, Ribalta was to settle as an artist in Valencia. He became among the first followers in Spain of the austere

tenebrist Tenebrism, from Italian ' ("dark, gloomy, mysterious"), also occasionally called dramatic illumination, is a style of painting using especially pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and where darkness becomes ...

style of

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

. It is unclear if he directly visited either

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, where Caravaggio's style had many adherents. Ribalta-cristo muerto

Alternatively, it is likely that tenebrist paintings were available in Spain by the early 17th century through the Spanish rule of the Neapolitan kingdom.

Jusepe de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring to ...

is said to have been one of his pupils, although it is entirely possible that Ribera acquired his tenebrism when he moved to Italy.

Style

The tenebrist style gathered a number of adherents in Spain, and was to influence the pre-eminent Baroque or

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

Spanish painters, especially Zurbarán, but also Velázquez and Murillo. Even the art of still life in Spain, the

bodegón The term ''bodega'' in Spanish can mean "pantry", "tavern", or "wine cellar". The derivative term ''bodegón'' is an augmentative that refers to a large ''bodega'', usually in a derogatory fashion. In Spanish art, a ''bodegón'' is a still life p ...

, was often painted in a similar stark and austere style. Among the direct disciples of Francisco were his son,

Juan Ribalta Juan Ribalta (1597 – October 1628) was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period. He was born and died in Valencia. His father, Francisco Ribalta, was a famous painter, active in the style of Caravaggio. Some sources said he was born in Madri ...

, Antonio Bisquert, and his son-in-law,

Vicente Castelló Vicente Castelló (c. 1585, Valencia - 1636, Valencia) was a Spanish painter in the Baroque style. He was a son-in-law of Francisco Ribalta, whose painting style was similar; as was that of his brother-in-law, Juan Ribalta, leading to a misatt ...

. Ribalta died in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

on 12 January 1628.

Honours

A park and a monument bears his name along with his son in Castelló. Also the oldest high school of that city and its province.

Works

* ''

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

'', his first work. * Some works in

El Escorial El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( es, Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial en Madrid), or Monasterio del Escorial (), is a historical residence of the King of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, u ...

. * ''Martyrdom of St. Peter'' * ''Martyr of St. Catherine'' (around 1605), oil on panel 123x108 cm, The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg * ''Portrait of Margarita Agulló'' (around 1605) * ''The Vision of Father Francisco Jerónimo Simon'', also known as the ''Venerable Simon'' (1612–19), oil on panel, 211x111 cm, National Gallery, London * ''St. Francis Comforted by the Angel'' (''San Francisco confortado por un ángel músico'') (around 1620), oil on panel, 204x158 cm, Musel del Prado, Madrid * ''Ramon Llull'' (around 1620) * ''Saint Roch'' (around 1625), oil on panel 124x60 cm, Museo de Bellas Artes, Valencia * ''Saint Sebastian'' (around 1625), oil on panel, 124x60 cm, Museo des Bellas Artes, Valencia * ''The Gospel of Saint Luke'' (1625–27), oil on canvas 83x36 cm, Museo de Portacoeli, Valencia

Bibliography

*Benito Domenech, Fernando (1987). ''Los Ribalta y la pintura valenciana de su tiempo'', Valencia-Madrid. . *Benito Domenech, Fernando y Vallés Borrás, Vicent Joan (1989).
Un proceso a Francisco Ribalta en 1618
. Boletín de la Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (69): p. 143-168. *Falomir Faus, Miguel (1998-1999). "Imágenes de una santidad frustrada: el culto a Francisco Jerónimo Simón, 1612-1619". Locvs Amoenvs (4): p. 171-183. * *Kowal, David M. (1985). ''Ribalta y los ribaltescos: La evolución del estilo barroco en Valencia''. Valencia, Diputación Provincial. . * Palomino, Antonio, ''

An account of the lives and works of the most eminent Spanish painters, sculptors and architects ''An account of the lives and works of the most eminent Spanish painters, sculptors and architects'' is a book written by the Spanish painter Antonio Palomino and dedicated to the biographies of the most eminent artists who worked in Spain during t ...

'', 1724, first English translation, 1739, p. 28 *Palomino, Antonio (1988). ''El museo pictórico y escala óptica III. El parnaso español pintoresco laureado''. Madrid, Aguilar S.A. de Ediciones. . *Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E. (1992). ''Baroque Paintings in Spain (1600-1750)''. Cátedra, Madrid. . *Piombo (1995). ''Sebastiano del Piombo in Spain''. Madrid, Museo del Prado, .

References

External links

*
Jusepe de Ribera, 1591-1652
', a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which includes material on Francisco Ribalta (see index)
Biography at the Museo del Prado Online Encyclopedia which includes the full exhibition catalog

Digital works of Francisco Ribalta
at the Hispánica Digital Library at the

Spanish National Library Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ribalta, Francisco 1565 births 1628 deaths People from Solsonès Painters from the Valencian Community Catholic painters 16th-century Spanish painters Spanish male painters 17th-century Spanish painters Caravaggisti