The Poet

The leading figure of Neapolitan painting, Jusepe de Ribera also had an intense but short-lived fascination with etching. This poet-possibly Virgil or Dante-strikes the familiar pose of the brooding, melancholy figure: head on hand, shadowed face, pensive expression. Such individuals were believed capable of almost divine brilliance but at the same time were sadly bound by their earthly limitations, a weight symbolized by the stone on which the poet leans. Many of Ribera's eighteen etchings are related to oil paintings, but The Poet stands alone, without a precedent.