Jusepe de Ribera, a Spanish artist who moved to Rome at age 15, was in the Spanish ruled, Italian city of Naples from age 25 till his death at 51. Early in his life there, his patron--the Viceroy of that territory, the Duke of Alcalá--commissioned him to paint a local oddity, the bearded lady. The paper that is accompanied by this slide show can be found on www.deborahfeller.com. Click on "Art Historian."

1. Possessing Strangeness:
Don Fernando
and
Jusepe de Ribera's Bearded Lady
© Deborah Feller
May 15, 2017

2. Figure 1: Jusepe de Ribera,
Magdalena Ventura with Husband
and Child (The Bearded Woman)
(1631, oil on canvas, 196 x 127
cm). Palacio Lerma, Fundación
Casa Ducal de Medinaceli,
Toledo.
Figure 2: Casa de Pilatos, Courtyard
Entrance (renovations completed ca.
1617). Seville.

3. Fernando Afán de Ribera,
Third Duke of Alcalá
ranked as one of
the most cultivated
nobles in Spain
Figure 3:

4. Figure 5: Casa de Pilatos, different sections.
Figure 4: Casa de Pilatos, aerial view.

5. Figure 6: Pacheco Room (Camarín
Grande), Casa de Pilatos, Seville.
Figure 7: Francesco Pacheco, Ceiling
of the Camarín Grande, Casa de
Pilatos (1604), Seville.
Figure 8: Francesco Pacheco, The
Apotheosis of Hercules (1604,
tempera on canvas). Casa de Pilatos,
Seville.

6. Figure 5: Casa de Pilatos, different sections.
Figure 4: Casa de Pilatos, aerial view.

7. Figure 9: Juan Sánchez Cotán, Brígida del
Río, la barbuda de Peñaranda (1560, oil
on canvas, 102 x 61 cm). Museo del
Prado, Madrid.

8. Figure 10: Ivory Horn (Oliphant), Southern Italy (11th–12th centuries, mount--early
17th century, 34 x 64 cm). Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Ontario.

9. Figure 11: Judeo-Arabic Astrolabe (ca.
1300, brass with silver, Catalonia). Photo
© D. Feller.
Figure 12: Arabic Astrolabe
(1073, Andalucia, gilded brass).
Photo © D. Feller

10. Figure 13: Lacrimatorios. Glass vessels for collecting mourners' tears.

11. Figure 14: Ivory gunpowder horn, ca. 1570, Italy.

12. Figure 15: Jusepe de Ribera,
Christ Being Prepared for the
Cross (ca. 1626, oil on canvas).
Church of Santa María de
Cogolludo, Spain.

13. Figure 16: Jusepe de Ribera, Philosopher (1631, oil
on canvas, 129 x 91 cm). University of Arizona Art
Museum, Tucson.
Figure 17: Jusepe de Ribera, Heraclitus
(1629-31, oil on canvas, 125 x 95 cm).
Christie's, New York.

14. Figure 18: Jusepe de Ribera, Democritus (1630,
oil on canvas, 125 x 81 cm). Museo del Prado,
Madrid.
Figure 19: Jusepe de Ribera, Archimedes (ca.
1630, oil on canvas, 118 x 94 cm). Museo del
Prado, Madrid.

15. Figure 20: Francesco Imperato, Historia natural de Ferrante Imperator, Naples
(1599, engraving).

16. Figure 16: Jusepe de Ribera, Philosopher (1631, oil
on canvas, 129 x 91 cm). University of Arizona Art
Museum, Tucson.
Figure 17: Jusepe de Ribera, Heraclitus
(1629-31, oil on canvas, 125 x 95 cm).
Christie's, New York.

17. Figure 21: Andrea del Sarto, Sacrifice
of Abraham (1527/29, oil on panel,
208.28 x 159.08). Gemäldegalerie Alte
Meister, Dresden.
Figure 22: Walnut and
ebony desk with
tortoiseshell and engraved,
tinted bone (first half of
17th century, Spain).

18. Figure 18: Jusepe de Ribera, Democritus (1630,
oil on canvas, 125 x 81 cm). Museo del Prado,
Madrid.
Figure 19: Jusepe de Ribera, Archimedes (ca.
1630, oil on canvas, 118 x 94 cm). Museo del
Prado, Madrid.

19. Figure 23: Casa de Pilatos, Main Courtyard.