Identifier: interstatemedica1619unse (find matches)
Title: Interstate medical journal
Year: 1909 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Medicine
Publisher: St. Louis, : Interstate Medical Journal
Contributing Library: The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Historical Medical Library
Digitizing Sponsor: The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the National Endowment for the Humanities

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, had his life embittered by calumnies, criticisms,schemes and plots, and only the pledged word of honor of the SpanishViceroy saved him from physical violence. Brought to Naples at an early age by his father, Ribera in 1606 wasplaced in the school of Caravaggio. Rapidly gaining fame, he wasloaded with honors and became the acknowledged leader of the Naplesschool of art. He and his associates formed a conspiracy of painters,whose object was to exclude from Naples all artists who did not worshipat their shrine. It was but natural that such an untamed nature shouldproduce frightful and hideous pictures. The softening influence oftravel and of study under Roman, Tuscan and Bolognese masters wassoon lost by Ribera, who returned to ruffianism and to horror. Riberas power lies in his knowledge of anatomy and in his abilityto depict suffering. He delights in portraying the most excruciatingpain, in painting torture, in drawing wrinkles, and in skinning his sub- 704 INTERSTATE MEDICAL JOURNAL
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THE FLAYING OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEW.(Etching by Ribera.) HISTORICAL NOTES 705 jects alive. The colorless muscles of St. Jerome, the spasms ana tor-ture of Ixion, the quivering flesh of St. Bartholomew, and Cato ofUtica tearing out his own entrails, are splendid examples of anatomicalknowledge as applied to horrors of art. They are masterpieces of tor-ture, made by the hand of an artist with the heart of an assassin. In addition to his other works, Ribera made twenty-six etchings fromhis own paintings or designs. These are of great merit and includestudies of the lower extremities, the hand, the eye, the ear, the face,etc. A striking figure is that of the head and neck of a patient whowas afflicted with multiple fibromata. This is much less repulsive thanthe agonizing scene in which an aged man, who is bound to a tree, isbeing skinned alive by a murderous looking individual. This etching—The Flaying of St. Bartholomew—expresses more than the murder of asaint; it shows the ferocious sp

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