Juan Ribalta

JUAN RIBALTA (Madrid, c. 1596-Valencia, 1628).
"San Pablo".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Work reproduced in: Palencia J. Mª. Baroque spirit. Granados Collection. Burgos 2008 p. 105.
It presents restorations in the pictorial surface.
It has a XIX century frame.
Measurements: 178 x 87,5 cm; 190 x 100 cm (frame).
In this painting of firm and material brushstrokes, the author presents us a mature saint portrayed in a solemn way. Standing before the viewer and without any detail that distracts the viewer from the figure of the protagonist, St. Paul rises imposingly above the darkness of the background. With one of his hands he holds the sword, while with the other he elegantly grasps the Holy Scriptures. Aesthetically, the work is close to the stylistic precepts of the most naturalistic baroque, which is especially reflected in the face and hands of the saint, which show the inscrutable passage of time on the skin. The composition and subject matter indicate that this piece originally belonged to a larger pictorial ensemble, probably composed of all the saints. Saint Paul was a Hellenized Jew of the Diaspora, born in Tarsus. He was therefore Jewish by ethnicity, Greek by culture and Roman by nationality. He received the name Saul, which he changed to Paul after his conversion. Born at the beginning of the first century, he studied in Jerusalem with Rabbi Gamaliel, who was known for his hatred of Christians. One day, when around the year 35 he was on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus, he was dazzled by lightning and fell from his horse. Then he heard the voice of Jesus saying to him: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? As a result of this experience, the saint went abruptly from persecutor to zealot of Christianity.

Juan Ribalta was a baroque painter who developed his career in the city of Valencia. He began his artistic training under the guidance of his father, the renowned artist Francisco Ribalta, a follower of Caravaggista painting. Always linked to the workshop of his father Juan Ribalta, he signed his first work at the age of eighteen with his father's workshop. Three years later, in 1618, he married, thus achieving an advantageous economic position, and began to be linked to the world of literature. His pictorial work is characterized by a tenebrist aesthetic style very close to the pictorial quality of his father. However, Juan Ribalta, at first, started from the precepts of mannerism, to which he applied certain touches of naturalistic character. Later his painting began to show a certain interest in the anecdotal and the everyday, characteristics that were widely present in the workshop of Bassano, an artist from whom he received a great influence. Regarding his last stage, his painting turned towards a much more sober language of naturalistic style, again close to his father. However, despite his father's fame, Juan Ribalta's talent was highly appreciated, in fact, Palomino was a great defender of his work, dedicating to him these words: "in that the father's manner was more defined, and the son's somewhat looser and more beaten". However, it should be noted that his untimely death left us the work of a great painter, who was still shaping his own pictorial language.