The Clubfoot — Diego de Ribera
Reading one of the best works of the painter who admired Caravaggio.
The artistic influence that Caravaggio’s work had throughout Europe was enormous, reaching all corners of the continent and enduring in time even to the present day.
One of the artists who drank most from Caravaggio’s paintings was the Spaniard Diego de Ribera, one of the great representatives of the Spanish and European Baroque. His youthful studies in Italy, specifically in Naples, brought him closer to the work of the Italian master, whose Tenebrism he later imbibed and put into practice.
At the same time that he developed his tenebrist vision, De Ribera captured a reality in 17th century Spain: to show the dark, tragic and realistic side of an unequal society.
We can observe both visions in many of Ribera’s paintings, for example, in The Clubfoot, a full-length portrait of a boy who is clearly from a poor social stratum. Over his left shoulder, he carries a crutch, and under his right arm, what appears to be a hat.
There is no scenery or physical context in the background because what De Ribera seeks is direct exposure to what he observes.
If we go into details that better explain the painting, we can look at what the boy is holding in his right…
