From an Expertise by Ferdinando Bologna dated 5 November 1969. "Dear Sir, I am acquainted with the original painting of your property depicting, in oil on canvas, cm. 73 x 61, the half-figure of a grieving Madonna holding the crown of thorns in her hands. The work, of very high and concentrated pictorial quality, is an autograph product of the Spanish painter of origin, but active mainly in Naples, JUSEPE RIBERA (Jativa, 1588 - Naples, 1652). Proof of this is, on the one hand, the unmistakeable tendency to turn the devout attitude of counter-reformed origin into undisguised expressionism: a tendency that is constantly found in all Ribera's works. On the other hand, it is reaffirmed by the naturalistic concentration, of specific Caravaggesque origin, in which that expressionism is objectivised in painting: the dominant, distinctive and specific trait of the master's entire autograph production. In this sense, comparisons with Ribera's certain works could extend indefinitely, each time deriving solar evidence of the painting's belonging to the painter's own hand. However, I am in a position to establish that, while from the point of view of the iconographic theme dealt with, the 'Our Lady of Sorrows' belonging to you finds a very precise counterpart in the 'Our Lady of Sorrows' held in the Gemäldegalerie in Kassel (cf. the reproduction in E. Du Gue Trapier, Ribera, New York, 1952, p. 157, fig. 111); from a typological and, above all, stylistic point of view, it finds its closest and most decisive point of resemblance in the figure of Our Lady of Sorrows that appears in the centre of Ribera's famous 'Pietà', which is still conserved in the Tesoro della Certosa di San Martino in Naples (cf. reproduction ibid., p. 146, fig. 94). The stylistic similarity with the 'Pietà' of San Martino is indeed such that it necessarily implies the reference of the work in question to the same moment in the master's artistic experience. Since the exact date of execution of the 'Pietà' of St. Martin is known - it was paid to the painter on 3 October 1637 -, I do not doubt that the 'Our Lady of Sorrows' in your possession must be dated around the same year, in any case no later than 1640. The state of conservation of the painting is excellent'. Accompanied by black and white photograph with autograph reference to the same. Measurements: 73 x 61 cm (with frame 88.5 x 77.0 cm)