Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Poet

Jusepe (Giuseppe) de Ribera

Date

c. 1620–21

Medium

Etching

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The leading figure of Neapolitan painting, Jusepe de Ribera also had an intense but short-lived fascination with etching. This poet-possibly Virgil or Dante-strikes the familiar pose of the brooding, melancholy figure: head on hand, shadowed face, pensive expression. Such individuals were believed capable of almost divine brilliance but at the same time were sadly bound by their earthly limitations, a weight symbolized by the stone on which the poet leans. Many of Ribera's eighteen etchings are related to oil paintings, but The Poet stands alone, without a precedent. Italy, Europe

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