Hand-painted in oil
About this Artwork
The symbol that works
Of the four evangelist emblems — lion, ox, eagle, and a human figure — only Matthew's became a participant. A lion sits beside Mark. An eagle perches near John. Matthew's, once winged and read as an angel, was given something to do: lean in, hold the page, speak. This catalogue holds eight titles naming Matthew, and the recurring arrangement in them is two figures engaged in a single task, which no other evangelist's emblem produces.
What the record holds
The catalogue dates the work to 1613 and gives Jusepe de Ribera, filed as Spanish, with the style term Tenebrism. The measured colour family is brown. No location is recorded for this entry and no dimensions are recorded, so neither is stated here. Eight entries on this site carry Tenebrism as a style term. The subject fields class the work as male portraiture and as a religious subject.
Not a member of the host
None of this makes the figure an angel in the sense the rest of this catalogue uses. It has no order, carries no message between heaven and a recipient, and cannot appear without Matthew. The tradition's ranks describe beings with independent standing; an evangelist's symbol has none. The catalogue records the title's word — written in lower case in this entry — and keeps the distinction, because the difference between a rank and an attribute is the difference between a being and a sign.
Sources
2 references- Ribera, Jusepe de — Getty ULAN
Spanish painter, printmaker, baptized in 1591, died 1652, active in Italy
- Jusepe de Ribera — Wikipedia
Jusepe de Ribera (Valencian: [josep ðe riˈβeɾa]; baptised 17 February 1591 – 3 November 1652) was a Spanish painter and printmaker. Ribera, Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major art
