Following models of José de Ribera, 17th century

Neapolitan school of the 17th century. Following models by JOSÉ DE RIBERA (Játiva, 1591-Naples,1652) .
"The View".
Oil on canvas.
Re-coloured in the 19th century.
It presents repainting.
Measurements: 110,5 x 88,5 cm; 126,5 x 104 cm (frame).
In the Neapolitan school, the influence of José Ribera was remarkable. His vehement and vigorous naturalism, filtered by Flemish influences, beats strongly in the Neapolitan painting contemporary to the Sevillian painter. Here we have a clear example of this influence. The author has faithfully reproduced the painting "The View" which Ribera painted during his stay in Rome (now in the Franz Mayer Museum). It was part of a series on the five senses. In this version, the dual ancestry of Ribera and Caravaggio can be seen in the violent, tenebrist light that bursts through in a slanting manner. It should also be noted that Ribera moved away from the iconographic complexity of the visions of the Five Senses produced in the Low Countries, along the lines of Brueghel. The Valencian artist, who takes up the present version, focuses on a character taken from everyday life. The man holds a spyglass in his hands that allows him to contemplate the universe through the window. Glasses and a mirror complete the representation of sight. The figure is placed in an interior and receives the strong impact of the light on his head and hands, his body being chiselled in each and every detail. The dark tones are used to focus the viewer's attention on the face, which is charged with emotional intensity.