Husepe de Ribera – Spanish painter, draftsman and engraver, a major representative of the Baroque in painting. Ribera portrayed mostly harsh and courageous people. Models of the artist can be considered the hypostases of him: in them he wanted to reveal his own essence, but the style of writing portraits was distinguished by realistic accuracy.
This picture is an image of the ancient Greek philosopher-cynic Diogenes of Sinop. Another Diogenes – Laertsky – left his biography, from which the artists drew jokes about the ascetic.
One of the episodes: the great Diogenes day in the market square with a lamp in his hand… looking for a man. Often in the XVII century, the mentioned plot was depicted not in action, but, as in Ribera, in the form of a portrait: the philosopher holds a lamp – a symbol of the search for truth and virtue.
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