Jusepe de Ribera (1591 - 1652) , from Jacob with Laban's Flock, 1640-1660 Oil on canvas 160 x 210 cm Provenance: Christie's London, 1972 (?); W. Apolloni, Rome (1973); private collection, Rome Bibliography: Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez and Nicola Spinosa, eds., Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652), 18 September-29 November 1992, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, exhibition catalogue, p. 28, pp. 99-102 (especially p. 102) Certificates: Fabrizio Apolloni (as "Neapolitan School of the first half of the 17th century, Bartolomeo Passante, 1614-1656, attr. to"), 10 March 1973 Conservation status. Support: 85% (re-covered, frame replaced) Conservation status. Surface: 90% (colour fading restored, repainting) The canvas under examination derives from a painting by Jusepe de Ribera, kept at least since 1681 at the Monastery of San Lorenzo in El Escorial, in the province of Madrid, and dated 1632 (174x219 cm), as reported by Keith Sciberras (communication of 23 June 2023) and Nicola Spinosa (communication of 30 May 2023). This composition - related in the literature to Ribera's encounter with the innovations of Velázquez and Grechetto's painting and extraordinarily balanced in its spatial opposition of empty and full space, and chromatic opposition of light and dark - was immediately and highly successful. Evidence of this is the reworking offered by Ribera himself, with considerable changes, in 1638 in a canvas now in the National Gallery in London (inv. NG244), as well as the numerous copies made during the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century, many of which are conserved in museums (e.g. Knowsley Hall, Liverpool; Museo de San Carlos, Mexico City; Grand Master's Palace, Valletta) and at least two appeared on the auction market, both at Christie's London, one on 9 December 2011 (auction 3475, l. 143: https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5522937) and the other, with which the painting in question can be identified, in 1972 (cf. Pérez Sánchez-Spinosa 1992, p. 102). (... read more: complete file in the catalogue pdf at https://goforarts.com/doc/VB_IT_2_2/Meraviglie_Atto_II_HR.pdf . The catalogue also includes lots that are not available on online platforms, including many of the most prestigious).