Diogenes, Husepe de Ribera – overview of the painting
- Posted by Jose de Ribera
- Museum: Dresden Gallery
- Year: 1637
Overview of the painting :
Diogenes – Husepe de Ribera. 1637. Oil on canvas. 76×61
Husepe de Ribera is a Spanish painter, draftsman and engraver, a major representative of baroque in painting. Ribera portrayed mostly harsh and courageous people. The artist’s models can be considered as the forms of himself: in them he wanted to identify his own essence, but the style of writing portraits was distinguished by realistic accuracy.
This picture is an image of the ancient Greek philosopher-kinik Diogenes of Sinopsky (lV century BC). e.). Another Diogenes – Laertes – left his biography, from which artists drew jokes about ascetics. One episode: the great Diogenes in the afternoon on the market square with a lamp in his hand (!) … looking for a man. Often in the XVII century, the aforementioned plot was not depicted in action, but, like Ribera, in the form of a portrait: the philosopher holds the lamp – a symbol of the search for truth and virtue.