Jusepe de Ribera, 'The Lamentation over the Dead Christ', early 1620s

The Lamentation over the Dead Christ

Jusepe de Ribera

Not on display

About the work

Overview

This is a youthful work by Ribera, and his earliest representation of the subject. Ribera studied the works of Caravaggio and these were to have a lasting influence on his style – here the naturalistic body of Christ and dramatic use of light are both inspired by him.

In-depth

Ribera captures the moment when Christ’s lifeless body is laid out after it has been brought down from the Cross. A solemn Saint John the Evangelist, dressed in red and green, gently supports Christ’s elegant corpse. Christ’s pallor is striking – his lips and skin are turning grey-blue – and his body seems to radiate light, as does the white sheet beneath him. Christ’s hands and feet bear the wounds he suffered by being nailed to the Cross and his brow is smeared with the blood he shed from wearing the crown of thorns, a symbol of Christ’s Passion. Recent cleaning of the picture revealed the crown just behind Christ’s right forearm (barely visible except in good light) and some masonry behind the figures, intended to represent the tomb in which Christ’s body will shortly be laid to rest. In the centre, in blue, is the Virgin Mary, who joins her hands in prayer and looks down at her son in extreme sorrow – a tear is rolling out of her right eye. The young woman bent over Christ’s legs is Mary Magdalene: she brings her face close to Christ’s feet, as if about to kiss his wounds. Her golden tresses cascade over her back evoking the biblical passage in which she used them to wipe Christ’s feet in the house of Simon (Luke 7: 36–8). The scene is one of extreme pathos, enhanced by the sombre atmosphere and dramatic lighting.

This is an early work painted by Ribera in Naples, where the artist had moved in 1616 after spending several years in Rome. The painting is thought to have been commissioned by the Genoese nobleman and collector Marcantonio Doria (1572–1651) in 1619 but was not delivered to him until 1623. Doria commissioned works from the leading artists of the day including Caravaggio, whose works Ribera had had the opportunity to study in both Rome and Naples. Caravaggio’s style was to have a lasting influence on Ribera: here, the forceful chiaroscuro and naturalistic rendering of the body of Christ – surely modelled on a real person – are both inspired by him.

This is the earliest representation of the Lamentation by Ribera. It relates stylistically to two other works he produced for the Collegiate Church of Osuna in Spain, both of which can be securely dated: The Crucifixion (1618) and Saint Sebastian (1617–18). Saint Sebastian’s bare torso resembles that of Christ and all three paintings are dramatically illuminated, with the figures spot-lit against an almost pitch-black background.

Technical examination of this painting, including X-radiography, has revealed that Ribera originally painted Mary Magdalene’s face much closer to Christ’s right foot, in the act of kissing it. This gesture appears in other Lamentations by Ribera, such as those in the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid (1633) and the Certosa di San Martino in Naples (1637). It is not clear why Ribera changed his mind here, but he may have preferred not to have anything interfere with the pure outline of Christ’s body.

There has not always been general agreement about who painted this picture. Generally thought to be by Ribera until 1925, it was subsequently assigned to various artists including Massimo Stanzione, Nicolas Tournier and an anonymous seventeenth-century Sevillian painter. Ribera’s authorship was proposed again in 1952 but was not universally accepted until after the painting was cleaned in the 1990s.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Lamentation over the Dead Christ
Artist: Jusepe de Ribera
Artist dates: 1591 - 1652
Date made: early 1620s
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 129.5 × 181 cm
Acquisition credit: Presented by David Barclay, 1853
Inventory number: NG235
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: David Barclay
Frame: 17th-century Italian Frame

Provenance

Said to have been in the Royal Gallery at Naples and removed thence by Eugène de Beauharnais (later Prince Eugène and Duke of Leuchtenberg, who died in 1824). Brought to England from Paris; in an anonymous sale (vendor, Hogarth) at Christie’s, 19 July, 1851 (lot 14; £36 15sh.), bought in. Probably bought from Hogarth by David Barclay, by whom it was presented in 1853.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised by Allan Braham, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School’, London 1988; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2009

The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture 1600–1700

The National Gallery (London)

21 October 2009 - 24 January 2010

National Gallery of Art (Washington DC)

28 February 2010 - 31 May 2010

Museo Nacional de Escultura

28 June 2010 - 17 October 2010
2011

The Young Ribera

Museo Nacional del Prado

5 April 2011 - 28 August 2011

Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte

23 September 2011 - 8 January 2012
2016

Beyond Caravaggio

The National Gallery (London)

12 October 2016 - 15 January 2017

National Gallery of Ireland

11 February 2017 - 14 May 2017

Scottish National Gallery

17 June 2017 - 24 September 2017
2024

Ribera: Shadows and Light

Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris

5 November 2024 - 23 February 2025

Bibliography

1946

R. Mesuret, 'Un tableau de Tournier à la National Gallery', Revue historique et littéraire du Languedoc, X, 1946, pp. 137-43
1952

Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School, London 1952
1957

R. Mesuret, 'L'Oeuvre peint de Nicolas Tournier: Essai de catalogue', Gazette des beaux-arts, XCIX/2, 1957, pp. 327-50
1958

J.A. Gaya Nuño, La pintura española fuera de España: Historia y catálogo, Madrid 1958
1970

N. MacLaren and A. Braham, The Spanish School, 2nd edn, London 1970
1971

C.M. Felton, Jusepe de Ribera: A Catalogue Raisonné, Ann Arbor 1971
1978

N. Spinosa and A.E. Pérez Sánchez, L'opera completa del Ribera, Milan 1978
1988

Maclaren, Neil, revised by Allan Braham, National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1988
1990

E. Nappi, 'Un regesto di documenti editi ed inediti, tratti prevalentemente dall'Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli, riguardanti Giuseppe Ribera e una conferma della presenza a Napoli nel novembre 1630 di Velázquez', Ricerche sul '600 napoletano, IX, 1990, pp. 177-86
1991

F. Bologna, Battistello Caracciolo e il primo naturalismo a Napoli (exh. cat. Chiesa della Certosa di San Martino, 9 November 1991 - 19 January 1992), Naples 1991
1992

N. Spinosa, 'Ribera a Napoli', in N. Spinosa and A.E. Pérez Sánchez (eds), Jusepe de Ribera 1591-1652, Naples 1992, pp. 30-55
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2003

N. Spinosa, Ribera, Naples 2003
2003

G. Finaldi, Ribera: La Piedad (exh. cat. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, 20 February - 11 May 2003), Madrid 2003
2005

V. Sgarbi et al., Caravaggio e l'Europa: Il movimento caravaggesco internazionale da Caravaggio a Mattia Preti (exh. cat. Palazzo Reale (Milan), 15 October 2005 - 6 February 2006), Milan 2005
2008

N. Spinosa, Ribera: La obra completa, Madrid 2008
2009

X. Bray et al., The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture, 1600-1700 (exh. cat., The National Gallery, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington), London 2009
2009

D. Carr, El Greco to Goya: Spanish Painting, London 2009

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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Jusepe de Ribera, 'The Lamentation over the Dead Christ', early 1620s

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Exhibition history

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Jusepe de Ribera