JUSEPE RIBERA OR RIBERA AND WORKSHOP (1591 - 1652), SAN FRANCISCO DE ASÍS Jusepe Ribera (Játiva, Spain 1591 - Naples, Italy, 1652). Exceptional discovery, we find ourselves before a version of the best-known portrait of Saint Francis of Assisi preserved in the Palazzo Ufizzi in Florence, according to Professor Spinosa, possibly a version made around 1640. José de Ribera, also called Jusepe, Josef or Giuseppe, named Lo Spagnoletto (Italian: "El españolito"), (baptized on February 17, 1591 in Játiva, Spain, and died on September 2, 1652 in Naples [Italy]), Spanish painter and printmaker, known for his baroque dramatic realism and his representations of religious and mythological themes. He was born in Spain, but spent most of his life in 17th century Italy. Little is known of his life in Spain, although the painter and biographer Antonio Palomino de Castro y Velasco affirms that he received his first training there with Francisco Ribalta. It is not known when he went to Italy, but there is evidence that as a young man he worked in Parma and Rome. In 1616 he married in Naples, then under Spanish rule, where he remained for the rest of his life. In 1626 he signed as a member of the Roman Academy of San Lucas and in 1631 as a knight of the Papal Order of Christ, although he always preserved his Spanish identity. The entirety of Ribera's work that is preserved seems to belong to the period after its installation in Naples. His extensive production mainly comprises religious compositions, along with a series of classical and genre themes and some portraits. He worked hard for the Spanish viceroys, who sent many of his paintings to Spain. He also worked for the Roman Catholic Church and had numerous private patrons of various nationalities. His paintings were widely imitated and copied in Spain. From 1621 there are numerous signed, dated and documented works by Ribera. Ribera's paintings are austere or gloomy and can be quite dramatic in their presentation. The main elements of Ribera's style, tenebrismo (dramatic use of light and shadow) and naturalism, are used to emphasize the mental and physical suffering of penitent or martyred saints or tortured gods. The realistic, often terrifying details are accentuated by thick brush marks on thick pigment to represent wrinkles, beards and flesh wounds. Ribera's technique is characterized by the sensitivity of the contour and the confidence with which he depicted changes from bright light to darker shadow. In addition to paintings, Ribera was one of the few seventeenth-century Spanish artists to produce numerous drawings, and his engravings are among the best produced in Italy and Spain during the Baroque period. Reference bibliography: Spinosa, Nicola, Ribera. L'opera Completa, Electa Napoli, 2006, ISBN 88-510-0288-6, P. 11. Measurements: 84.5 x 61 cm. Provenance: old Milà collection, Barcelona and his engravings are among the best produced in Italy and Spain during the Baroque period. Reference bibliography: Spinosa, Nicola, Ribera. L'opera Completa, Electa Napoli, 2006, ISBN 88-510-0288-6, P. 11. Measurements: 84.5 x 61 cm. Provenance: old Milà collection, Barcelona and his engravings are among the best produced in Italy and Spain during the Baroque period. Reference bibliography: Spinosa, Nicola, Ribera. L'opera Completa, Electa Napoli, 2006, ISBN 88-510-0288-6, P. 11. Measurements: 84.5 x 61 cm. Provenance: old Milà collection, Barcelona