The Poet
Etching 1620-21
Size of original 160 x 123mm, 6 5/16 x 4 13/16 inches
Ribera’s Poet is not given a name, but is almost certainly intended to be the Roman poet Virgil. Virgil was buried on the outskirts of Naples in 19BC, and his reputed tomb was one of the sights for visitors to Ribera’s adopted city.
In the intervening centuries Virgil had developed an additional mythical status as a powerful and benign magician who continued to protect the city by hidden spells – the Merlin of Naples.
Ribera’s Poet is a figure capable of carrying this role as well as a purely literary one. His gaze can be read either as looking downwards in contemplation, or out at the viewer with a knowing intensity.
This famous etching was probably the earliest of Ribera’s prints to be distributed. The still and proto-romantic mood is unusual for Ribera and seems to look forward to the work of Salvator Rosa, who was later to train in Ribera’s circle in Naples. More typical of Ribera is the way all the elements of the composition are right at the front of the picture-space.
The pose of the figure (but not the face) is derived from Raphael’s Heraclitus in the School of Athens fresco in the Vatican, which is probably a portrait of Michelangelo. The figure is also reminiscent of Dürer’s Melencolia, who is also wreathed with her head leaning on her forearm.
Heraclitus/Michelangelo leans on a cube of stone like the Poet, and Melencolia has her famous truncated stone cube nearby. These references were no doubt intended to be appreciated by Ribera’s sophisticated audience.
Two of Ribera’s surviving etchings are believed to predate this image. Both are sketches of saints, one of which survives in only a single impression, and the other is extremely rare. The Poet is very much a finished work, and one that shows an impressive etching technique whilst preserving Ribera’s individual drawing style.
To the right of the image, especially the lower part, are areas of foul-biting where the etching-ground began to break down. These could have been removed by burnishing the plate, but Ribera seems to have found the textural effect interesting, and left them.
Click image to enlarge
Size of reproduction:
160 x 123mm, 6 5/16 x 4 13/16 inches
Print price:
£19 €28 $30
£ and € print prices include UK VAT at 17.5%. No UK VAT on Books.
© The Trustees of the British Museum 2006 PD W6-113 Bartsch 10
