Leseprobe

95 Jusepe de Ribera Xàtiva 1591–1652 Naples The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence c. 1625 Oil on canvas; 206×154 cm First mentioned in the 1747–1750 inventory Gal. no. 686 In dramatic chiaroscuro the artist depicts the moment immediately prior to the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence. The deacon from Aragón is shown wearing only his loincloth, his bare body standing out starkly from the dark background. Raising his right arm, the condemned cleric directs his gaze skyward, mouth ajar – seeking redemption and support. By shifting the focus to the moment before the martyrdom, Ribera shows Lawrence in dialogue with God, hoping for salvation. But the execu- tioner has already seized Lawrence’s arm, while his robes are being taken away by a young servant in the foreground. According to historical accounts, Saint Lawrence was executed on a red-hot gridiron in the 3rd century, at the order of the Roman emperor Valerian. In the picture two servants are busy stoking the fire, whose faint light, however, kindles associations of hope rather than of annihilation, in a glimmering prospect of resur- rection and immortality through martyrdom. Ribera’s composition on the martyr- dom of Lawrence was copied a number of times, with at least eight direct reproduc- tions known to us. Of all known versions, only the one in Dresden shows Ribera’s specific way of achieving the strongest plastic and painterly effects through a dra- matic chiaroscuro. The painting was probably brought to Dresden via Hamburg by Carl Heinrich von Heineken in 1742.  |  iyw