St Andrew

Title: St Andrew
Artist: Jusepe de Ribera
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size:123 x 95 cm
Date: c. 1630-32
Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid.

St. Andrew, the Apostle, son of Jonah, was born in Bethsaida of Galilee. He was brother of Simon Peter, and both were fishermen who, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, occupied the same house at Capernaum. As one of the Twelve, Andrew was admitted to the closest familiarity with Jesus during his public life. He was present at the Last Supper, beheld the risen Lord, witnessed the Ascension, shared in the first Pentecost, and helped, amid threats and persecution, to establish the Faith in Palestine. He was crucified by order of the Roman Governor Aegeas, at Patrae in Achaia, on November 30, A.D. 60. He was bound, not nailed, to the cross, in order to prolong his sufferings. The cross on which he suffered is commonly held to have been the decussate cross, now known as St. Andrew's, though the evidence for this view seems to be no older than the fourteenth century.

The feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (30 November) is used as a marking point for the beginning of Advent, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus, which begins with the Sunday nearest to the feast day and embracing four Sundays. The first Sunday may be as early as 27 November, and then Advent has twenty-eight days, or as late as 3 December, giving the season only twenty-one days. With Advent the ecclesiastical year begins in the Western churches. Beginning today the Christmas Anticipatory Prayer, also known as the "Novena to St. Andrew" is prayed every day until Christmas.

Jusepe (or José) de Ribera, (January, 1591 – September, 1652) was a Spanish painter, etcher, and draughtsman, active for all his known career in Italy. Little is known of his life before he settled in Naples (at the time a Spanish possession) in 1616. In his earlier style, founded sometimes on Caravaggio and sometimes on the wholly diverse method of Correggio, the study of Spanish and Venetian masters can be traced. Along with his massive and predominating shadows, he retained from first to last a great strength in local coloring. His forms, though ordinary and sometimes coarse, are correct; the impression of his works gloomy and startling. He delighted in subjects of horror. In the early 1630s his style changed away from strong contrasts of dark and light to a more diffused and golden lighting.

St Joseph and the Infant Jesus

Title: St Joseph and the Infant Jesus

Artist: Jusepe de Ribera

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 126 x 100cm

Date: 1632

Location: Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

St. Joseph, also known as Joseph of the House of David, Joseph the Betrothed, or Joseph the Worker is the husband of the Virgin Mary, the foster father of Jesus, and head of the Holy Family. Joseph is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches. The gospels describe Joseph as a "tekton" (τεκτων); traditionally the word has been taken to mean "carpenter", though the Greek term is much less specific. It cannot be translated narrowly; it evokes an artisan with wood in general, or an artisan in iron or stone. Very little other information on Joseph is given in the Gospels, but the little there is describes well enough who he was: "a righteous man" (Matthew 1:18).

In this intimate painting, St. Joseph, bathed in a gentle golden light that falls from above, holds a flowered staff. According to apocryphal sources, suitors for the Virgin Mary’s hand were to present rods to the high priest of the Temple. When Joseph’s rod bloomed, he was identified as her betrothed. Here he is accompanied by the Christ Child, who offers him a basket with carpentry tools, alluding to his step-father’s profession. St. Joseph, as patron Saint of fathers, serves as an example about the importance of commitment to marriage, the family, and the importance of living an unstained moral life.

Jusepe (or José) de Ribera (January 12, 1591 - September 2, 1652), was a Spanish painter, etcher, and draughtsman, active for all his known career in Italy, where he was called 'Lo Spagnoletto' (the Little Spaniard). Little is known of his life before he settled in Naples in 1616, which at the time was a Spanish possession. Naples was then one of the main centres of the Caravaggesque style, and Ribera is often described as one of Caravaggio's followers. Ribera’s work, however, tends to be much more individualistic than that of most Caravaggesque artists, particularly in his vigorous and scratchy handling of paint. Similarly, though he undoubtedly painted some powerful pictures of typically Caravaggesque themes, he was equally capable of great tenderness, and his work is remarkable for his feeling of individual humanity.

Holy Trinity

Title: Holy Trinity

Artist: Jusepe de Ribera

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 226 × 118 cm

Date: 1636

Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid.

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. In this painting Ribera has depicted the three in their traditional guises: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the dove of the Holy Spirit.

Ribera was a great exponent of Caravaggism, and his rise to prominence in Naples further entrenched Caravaggism as the dominant mode there. With the Holy Trinity, however, he had moved further from Caravaggio's example, lightening his palette and increasing the painterliness of his brushwork. Ribera still employed the distinct shift between light and dark, most notably around the figure of Jesus, which allows the nimbus around God the Father to radiate.

Jusepe de Ribera (January 12, 1591 - September 2, 1652) was a Spanish painter and printmaker, also known in Spanish as José de Ribera. Almost nothing is known of his training in Spain, although it is possible, as some experts have suggested, that he had some contact with Francisco Ribalta. In Italy, where all his mature work was done, he was known as Giuseppe Ribera or Lo Spagnoletto, "the Little Spaniard". By 1644 he was so renowned that he was knighted by the pope.