Paintings by Francisco Ribalta.

New York
Author(s): Priscilla Muller
Source: The Burlington Magazine , Dec., 1988, Vol. 130, No. 1029 (Dec., 1988), pp. 957-958
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 EXHIBITION REVIEWS

Cleopatra's suicide after the

taste conquest
in such byHowever, two
upmarket items.
Octavian in 30 B.C., the show devotes rings and an armlet of vaguely Egyptian
several rooms to statues of kings and queens.appearance come from the Nubian king-
For the most part, they are displayed sep-dom of Meroe, and do not really belong
arately, a somewhat incongruous segre-here (Nos.89-91).
gation for a dynasty whose women were The handsome, well-produced cata-
so powerful and, not infrequently, pre-logue2 begins with essays by several special-
dominant. Some of the representations areists, which usefully summarise current views
Egyptian in style, some Greek. Most, how-on various aspects of the society. A chapter
ever, reflect both traditions, in a bewilder-on Ptolemaic art precedes the individual
ing variety of permutations that speakscatalogue entries. In these final sections,
eloquently of the tangled cultural com-Robert Bianchi presents two major argu-
plexities of this sophisticated society, at ments. The first, his insistence on the
its highest level. These are self-conscious fundamentally Egyptian nature of most
works with a high propaganda content,Ptolemaic Egyptian sculpture, is certainly
bd

rather than straightforward portraits; it correct,3 although he weakens his case by

is hardly surprising that few have beenrefusing to admit any possibility of Greek
firmly identified. influence even when, as in hairstyles, it is
Cleopatra herself is represented by two ofpatently apparent.
the finest and most widely accepted of her More questionable is his contention that
portrait statues. The almost perfectly pre-even the most idiosyncratic of Egyptian
served, rather formal head acquired just a'portrait' heads are in reality just assem-
decade ago by West Berlin (No.77; Fig.98) blages of conventional stock features. It is
and the more tender and softly modelled no bad thing to be reminded that ancient
head owned by the Vatican (No.76) arerepresentations were created within a frame
shown side by side, near likenesses be-of reference very different from ours. In all
lieved to represent her father, Ptolemy XIIperiods of Egyptian art, even strikingly in-
(No.57) and her two Roman consorts (asdividualistic likenesses normally incorpor-
she surely considered them), Julius Caesar ate one or more conventionally rendered
and Mark Antony (Nos.79, 80). features, often the eyes. The practice can 100. Calvary, by Francisco Ribalta. 192 by 117 cm.
But the heart of the exhibition is a re- be observed in this exhibition: for example, (Diputaci6n Provincial, Valencia; exh. Spanish
markable series of little-known statues in the eyes of Nos.35, 37, 41 and 46. But Institute, New York).
representing private dignitaries - priests few who see these evocative images can
and officials, with shaven heads or thick doubt that they are indeed, in some very
short hair. All were originally full-length real sense, portraits.
.... .
.. .........

. ....... .... .. .. . . ..... ... .

.. .. .......... ... ..... ... .

figures, but the great majority are now

... . ..........

EDNA R. RUSSMANN ..........

law..

reduced to heads. Having lost their bodies, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
they have also lost the inscriptions which
once identified them. Most or all of them,
'The Detroit Institute of Arts, 14th February to .. . . .... . ........

30th April 1989; Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kultur-

however, must have been native Egyptians,
stiftung, in co-operation with the Staatliche
.. .........

and their representations are firmly rooted

Sammlung Agyptischer Kunst, Munich, 8th
in an indigenous tradition of portraiture,
which can be traced as far back as the June to 10th September 1989.
.............
2Cleopatra's Egypt: Age of the Ptolemies. By Robert S.
earliest pyramids, well before 2500 B.C.
Bianchi et al. 293 pp. + 37 col. pls. + 212 b. & w.
These portraits, most of them unsparing
ills. (The Brooklyn Museum, 1988), $29.50 (PB).
depictions of age, are meant to convey a
ISBN 0-87273-113-8.
high seriousness. Their individual features
3Cf. B.V. BOTHMER: Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period ... ..... ... .

and shades of expression vary widely, how- 1960], pp.131-32, 133, 137, 166.
[Brooklyn
ever, from the sardonic hauteur of the
superb little 'Boston green head' (No.45;
Fig.99) to the stern, heavy authority of
East Berlin's colossal Horsitutu (No.31), New York
the introspective quality underlying the Paintings by Francisco Ribalta
baroque profusion of plastic and linear
detail on West Berlin's 'Berlin Green Head'Until the Valencia-organised exhibition
of thirty-six paintings by the Ribaltas
(No.46), and the almost hypnotic intensity
of the 'Brooklyn black head', with its huge
(Francisco, and his son, Juan) and fifty by
round eyes and thin, compressed lips earlier and subsequent Valencian artists 1
reached Madrid late in 1987, their art
(No.43). Seen together for the first time F
with about a dozen other examples, thesecould scarcely said to be known beyond its A
masterly works attest to the importancenative
of region. Nor have many paintings by
Ribalta travelled abroad. Thus the current
Egyptian portraiture in the Ptolemaic era, Calvary (Valencia, Diputacion Provincial;
contemporary with the portraits of Greece
exhibition of Ribalta paintings from Spain Fig.100), formerly attributed to another
and Rome, but arising from other, older at the Spanish Institute, New York (to artist, with Ribalta's signature and inscrip-
roots.
8th December) is of unusual interest. Based tion verified during recent restoration, and
largely on the recent Valencia and Madrid
In addition to reliefs and a few funerary the Mystic marriage of St Gertrude (Valencia,
objects, the show provides a small but exhibitions,
choice Parish church of S. Esteban), unpublished
as is its catalogue,' it presents
sampling of Ptolemaic minor arts, includ-
works by Francisco and Juan Ribalta alone. till 1987 and attributed to Francisco on
ing Brooklyn's unique Symplegma, anThe selection approaches in number the
erotic stylistic grounds.
group of elaborate, quite endearing Ribalta
goofi- entries in the Spanish exhibitions, Though the exhibitions here at last al-
ness (No.130). One would have liked to several paintings from Valencia
though lowed the usually scattered Ribalta paint-
see more terracotta genre statuettes; a and Algemesi have been added, while a few ings to be seen together, monographic
group of two engagingly lively grotesquemore, including the Prado's St Francis with studies have not been lacking. Like others,
figures is the only representative of this
the musical angel, have been omitted. Both the titles of two comprehensive works
popular type (No.114). Deluxe vessels and
exhibitions included such newly intro- available in English - Delphine FitzDarby's
duced additions to Francisco's wuvre as the
gold jewellery show the prevalence of Greek Francisco Ribalta and His School (Cambridge,

957

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 EXHIBITION REVIEWS

Juan Ribalta's death nine months after

that of Francisco precluded any significant
development in his manner beyond what
he had evolved while working in concert
with his father. It should also be remem-
bered that Jusepe Martinez reported that
this promising young artist had 'made' but
a few works. It remains a challenge to dis-
tinguish between paintings by the mature
Francisco and those by his son, and this
justifies the inclusion of several paintings
by Juan in the New York exhibition. Apart
from the signed and dated Preparations for
the Crucifixion of 1615 and the Prado's
........... . .

........ : m

Mass., 1938), and David M. Kowal's The
Life and Art of Francisco Ribalta, a 1981
dissertation later published in an abridged
Spanish edition with the more represent-
ative title, Ribaltay los ribaltescos: la evolucidn
del estilo barroco en Valencia (Valencia, 1985)
- point to a long recognised problem in
Ribalta studies: that of attributions to
chiaroscuro-heightened realism and drama
father, son, son-in-law and other collabor-
102. Venus
Caravaggio- or Ribera-like Saint John the
surprised by
satyrs, ? by
Evangelist which bears Juan's signature,
Nicolas Poussin. the Adoration of the shepherds is much in the
77 by 100 cm. Orrente/Bassani manner and the Last Supper
(Kunsthaus, may represent a collaborative effort by
Zurich; exh. father, son and son-in-law, Vicente Castell6
Kimbell Art (both in the Parish church, Torrente, and
Museum, Fort datable 1616), while the attribution of the
Worth). Prado's stylistically unevenly matched
Crucifixion (Valencia, Museum of Fine Arts),Sts Mark and Luke and Sts Matthew and John
which Juan, like his father, signed andvacillated prior to recent attempts to clarify
dated while still in his teens (the signaturesJuan's style in painting. It is in the con-
suggesting that either or both paintings maytinuing struggle to understand and define
have been regarded somewhat as 'exam-an artist's singular individuality that much
ination pieces'), Francisco's representation of the importance of such exhibitions as
appears timid and restrained, while Juan's these will always lie.
PRISCILLA MULLER
is a tour-de-force of the Caravaggio-inspired,
The Hispanic Society ofAmerica

preferred in the Valencia of 1615.

ators and pupils in what were frequently,
'The Paintings of Ribalta, 1565-1628. By Fern
Some Francisco Ribalta paintings areBenito
as in several retablo commissions, joint Domenech, translated by Suzanne Stra
efforts by a Ribalta equipo. quite perceptibly interpretations after other 136 pp. + 76 col. pls.+ 59 b. & w. ills. (Vale
The importance of Francisco Ribalta'sartists - for example his busier, more force- 1988). ISBN 84-7795-007-5; Nos.20, 27, 28 a
art lies in the fact that it spans the years
fully dramatic Beheading of St James paintednot exhibited. Los Ribalta,y la pintura valenciana
between the Italianate renaissancein(and 1603 for the main retablo in the Algemesitiempo. By Fernando Benito Domenech, 317
Parish church of S. Jaime Ap6stol draws 143 col. pls. + 190 b. & w. ills. (Museo del P
later, mannerist) art practised in Valencia
by, among others, Macip and Juanes,on a work by the Escorial artist, NavarreteMadrid, 1987), ISBN 84-505-6705-X; this exhib
and
'El Mudo'. He made copies after Juaneswas at Valencia's Lonja in October-December 1
the Counter-Reformation, whose religious
and at the Prado's Villahermosa Palace galleri
art demanded a convincing, tenebrist, and Macip for ecclesiastical patrons - for
December 1987-January 1988.
baroque realism. Indeed, to satisfyexample
his the Christ sustained by angels from
the Prado, and The story of Saint Eloy's
ecclesiastical Valencian patrons (primarily
the Archbishop-Patriarch Juan de Ribera,
mother painted for a silversmiths' guild
altar-piece and only recently shown to beFort Worth
whose posthumous portrait by Francisco
by Ribalta - and borrowings from Sebas- Early Poussin
is seen in the New York exhibition),
Francisco often copied paintings by hisdel Piombo - for example the Encounter
tiano
of the Nazarene with the Virgin, St Francis Writing in this Magazine in 1982
then still-revered predecessors, an aspect
embracing the crucified Christ (Fig.101) and(pp.705-11), Anthony Blunt noted that
of his activities which Jusepe Martinez
Lamentation, all from Valencia. HisKonrad Oberhuber had completed a
theof
(d.1682) regarded as 'no small proof'
works also include compositions based monograph on the early work of Poussin
this 'most eminent', yet humble and saintly
upon northern European and Italiancontaining 'revolutionary ideas on attri-
painter's patience. Also, though mentioned
neither by Martinez (who met Ribera in Nonetheless the exhibition alsobutions and dating'. He acknowledged
prints.
Naples in 1625) nor in the exhibition demonstrates Francisco's development that 'the main subject of discussion and
catalogues, Francisco Ribalta was long toward an increasingly baroque realism.even dispute seems now to be - and per-
believed to have been Ribera's master in His probable self-portrait as St Luke paintinghaps one should say, has been ever since
Valencia, a belief perhaps supported by the Virgin, one of four evangelist paintingsthe 1960 exhibition - the chronology of
similarities discernible between Ribera's for the Portacoeli Carthusian monastery Poussin's early period', but stated his belief
earliest works and those of Juan Ribalta, (Valencia, Museum of Fine Arts), and the that certain problems were resolvable only
his contemporary and possibly fellow pupil notably impressive Christ embracing Stthrough the discovery of new documents.
in Francisco's studio. Bernard (Madrid, Prado) - once associated Dating Poussin's work by year according
with Zurbaran but which Ponz in 1774
The details of Francisco's initial schooling to a theory of development was, in his
in Barcelona remain unknown. His early considered Ribalta's most beautiful and view, doomed to failure, and this was es-
works - such as the Preparations for the expressive work - also painted for the pecially true for the first ten years in Rome.
Crucifixion (Leningrad, Hermitage Museum; Portacoeli monastery, and datable 1625- Lacking such documents, stylistic argu-
not in the current exhibitions), with an 27, are clearly within the Spanish baroque ments would lead only to ever more diver-
inscription asserting his Catalan origin and manner, as is also the recently introduced, gent views, speculations that Blunt found
dating the painting to Madrid in 1582,warm-hued and intimate Mystic marriage of'futile - and boring'. After a lifetime of
and the Cambiaso-like nocturnal Adoration St Gertrude. The last is assigned to Francisco setting Poussin's house in order he may
of the shepherds (Algemesi, Parish church ofRibalta's late years although, since it is have found what he called the 'chronology
S. Jaime Ap6stol) shown in New York - re-apparently associable with Orrente's Vision game' tiresome by the end, but he knew
flect the Madrid/El Escorial milieu in whichof St Teresa in the same church, it perhaps its interest and that it was best played in
Francisco developed during the 1580s and pays tribute to Orrente's style, as is morethe early period. As in the case of Ludovico
90s before moving to Valencia. In com-frequently the case with works by Juan Carracci, who also reached thirty without
parison with his son's Preparations for theRibalta. supplying a documented work, it is here

958

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