When Ribera came to Rome, several styles were competing with each other. He decided to emulate Caravaggio and show real life rather than an artistic ideal of beauty. He literally found his models on the street. He showed beggars, market women and street children as they were: Wrinkles, grey hair, exhausted faces, disabilities.

On the other hand, he ennobled them by portraying them as philosophers, apostles and saints.
Thanks to the information panels on which Caravaggio’s model is depicted, it is easy to understand how Ribera emulated his model and, as some critics say, even surpassed it.

In addition to detailed descriptions and information on many of the paintings, there are extra references to interesting visual details that the viewer would otherwise certainly have missed.

Using bright colours against a dark background, Ribera achieved dramatic effects in the style of Caravaggio, making his figures appear extremely vivid.

From the series of ‘Allegories of the Five Senses’, we see “taste” and “smell”, and we can almost smell the onion and feel the satiety of the man who has finished his meal.

The scenes of torture shown towards the end of the exhibition are perhaps also so vivid because Ribera experienced them live: He witnessed public executions in the marketplace of Naples.

In addition to the ‘Apostles’ series’, there are many other religious paintings on display. In the style of Caravaggio, Ribera gives them a secular flavour. The ‘Denial of St Peter’, for example, resembles a tavern scene and one of the figures in ‘The Coronation with Thorns’ makes an obscene gesture that was well known at the time.

Scenes from mythology also played a major role in de Ribera’s work. You can admire some striking examples in the exhibition, including the ‘Drunken Silen’, ‘Apollo and Marsyas’ and ‘Venus and Adonis’.