Communion of the Apostle

Jusepe de Ribera painted Communion of the Apostle around 1651, late in his career in Naples where he had lived since 1616 and become the most celebrated painter in the city. Ribera's Neapolitan career produced an enormous body of work for the churches, monasteries, and private collectors of the city and its aristocratic establishment, combining the Caravaggesque tenebrism he absorbed in Rome with a Spanish intensity of devotional feeling that made his religious subjects uniquely compelling. His late work shows a somewhat lighter, more atmospheric treatment than his earlier darker style, the tenebrism modulated toward a greater spatial openness while retaining the physical directness and psychological intensity of his mature approach.

The monumental Last Supper composition arranges the apostles around Christ with the warm, golden palette of Ribera's late period, the softer lighting and broader modeling reflecting his mature evolution beyond strict Caravaggism.