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The Indianapolis Museum of Art’s European Gallery features a dramatic portrait of a man, mysteriously meditating on something doubtless deep weighty. This is a 1637 oil painting by the Spanish artist named Jusepe de Ribera, known as Lo Spagnoletto, or the Spaniard. It typifies many aspects of late Renaissance art in its subject matter, and style.
Ribera’s painting Aristotle portrays an older man in simple robes, wearing a cap, and holding a book vertically on a surface (de Ribera). He appears out of an intense darkness, with only his face picked out in great portrait detail. His bearded face is lined ascetically slender. On the surface are, in addition to the tattered book, are a single sheet of paper, a right angle, a stylus, and a stack of other books. His sturdy and originally well-made clothing appears torn.
The subject matter is part of a series of portraits of philosophers that Ribera completed for the Prince of Lichtenstein (de Ribera) (Indianapolis Museum of Art). The only sources for these ancient Greek thinkers would have been a few busts of uncertain accuracy, since these men lived so many hundreds of years before the Renaissance.
A great thrust of the Renaissance was the rehabilitation and revisiting of these Classical philosophers who had been ignored and suppressed by the Medieval Roman Catholic church for a millennium and more. Thus it is logical that Ribera would have been asked to portray these newly important figures, and he would have had little choice about portraying them out of his imagination.
This emphasis on topics from Classical Greece and Rome was characteristic of much of the art in the Renaissance.
This work was executed in oil paint on canvas… This was typical of Ribera’s series of portraits of philosophers, and not unusual for Renaissance artists, other than the fresco specialists. Although Ribera did many works of art on religious topics, he also did portraits of unnamed individuals identified only by their role or occupation.
As is common to see in any group of Renaissance paintings, the dress, setting, and objects depicted are those of Ribera’s surroundings rather than any sort of reconstruction of the ancient environment. Ribera was an admirer of Caravaggio, and his fondness for chiaroscuro may arise from this preference (Indianapolis Museum of Art).
What strikes the viewer first in looking at this painting is the color. The reddish browns of the subject’s clothes come forward from the exceedingly dark background, as does the tone of the subject’s skin. This technique is called chiaroscuro. However the color values of his hat, his robe, and the objects on the table are all roughly the same.
The only striking contrast arises from the pale paper that Aristotle is considering. Even his face is darker than this nearly white area of color. The space depicted in the picture is uncertain, given the near darkness of the setting. However the viewer automatically infers a room stretching out around him, to some degree, from the dramatic shading. Ribera lavishes attention to the line of the subject’s face, making him highly individual.
He creates a triangular pyramid shape of the figure and his slightly outstretched arms, anchored by books, paper, and the table. He illuminates the seat of thought; the head, and the source of ancient knowledge; the books. The texture of skin and clothes is fuzzy and feels real, like real older skin and woolen cloth. The paper, on the other hand, is smooth without being shiny. The interest found in his face is balanced by the interest created by the paper, generating a diagonal movement for the eye.
This painting shows the skill of the artist in portraying a human face and form in a believable space. The choice of a Classical topic reflects current fascination with the ancients. The style, using heavy chiaroscuro, and showing the ancient subject in the garb of one of Ribera’s contemporaries, is typical of this period in the Renaissance and pays homage to the works of Caravaggio.
Works Cited
de Ribera, lo Spagnoletto, Jusepe|. Aristotle. Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis. Oil on Canvas. 2013. Web.
Indianapolis Museum of Art. “Aristotle.” 2013. Indianapolis Museum of Art. Web.
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