St Albert
by RIBERA, Jusepe de, Chalk on buff paper, 230 x 170 mm
Throughout his career, Ribera was an avid draftsman in pen and ink and in red chalk, and the chalk drawings in particular evince the approach of an artist trained in an Italian workshop. In this study of St Albert Ribera solves a problem of figure drawing with an ease that is rarely matched by Spanish painters of the period. The technique is Italianate as well: thin, closely spaced lines and soft shadows are used to delineate the body and musculature.