Saint Thomas

Saint Thomas at the Prado, part of an apostle series painted around 1630, depicts the doubting apostle with his traditional attribute of a builder's set-square. Ribera's apostolados were among his most important commissions for Spanish patrons. Ribera painted his saints with unflinching naturalism rooted in his early study of Caravaggio's Rome before settling in Naples in 1616. Working under Spanish viceregal patronage, he produced devotional images combining brutal physical realism with prof...

The apostle's rugged features are dramatically lit against a dark background. Ribera's naturalistic treatment gives each apostle an individual character while maintaining the series' devotional consistency.