José de Ribera (1591 - 1652), l’audace du réel

Born in Jétiva in 1591, Jusepe de Ribera arrived in Rome at a very young age before settling permanently in Naples in 1616, which was then a Spanish possession. In this city, where he enjoyed dazzling success, he became one of the great masters of 17th-century painting. The exhibition at the Petit Palais brings together more than a hundred paintings, drawings, and prints from around the world to trace his exceptional career. Following in the footsteps of Caravaggio, Ribera distinguished himself through his radical approach to painting from life. He rendered bodies, faces, and objects with an almost tactile intensity, bestowing a deeply moving dignity upon even the most humble subjects. Portraits of philosophers, religious scenes, and depictions of martyrs bear witness to a virtuosic art that is sensitive and deeply rooted in reality.