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Title:Studies of Two Ears and of a Bat. Below, the motto: FULGET SEMPER VIRTUS
Artist:Jusepe de Ribera (called Lo Spagnoletto) (Spanish, Játiva 1591–1652 Naples)
Date:1591–1652
Medium:Red chalk and brush and red wash on beige paper. Composition outlined on all borders with ruled lines in black chalk
Dimensions:6-1/4 x 11 in. (15.9 x 27.9 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1972
Object Number:1972.77
Inscription: Inscribed in red chalk in block lettering under bat at center, "FULGET SEMPER VIRTUS". Annotated in pen and brown ink at lower left on verso, "C - 16".
Marking: Watermark: 'cross in shield' [Not in Heawood, or Briquet]
Christie's, London, March 28, 1972, Lot. 79, repr. pl. 17; Baskett and Day (British)(for MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings Recently Acquired, 1972–75," October 1, 1975–January 4, 1976.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Spain: Drawings, Prints and Photographs," April 18–July 16, 1989.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," February 26–May 5, 1996.
The Frick Collection, New York. "The Spanish Manner: Drawings from Ribera to Goya," October 5, 2010–January 9, 2011.
Jonathan Brown Jusepe de Ribera: Prints and Drawings Exh. cat., Princeton, Princeton University, The Art Museum and Harvard University, Fogg Art Museum, 1973-74. Princeton, 1973, pp. 154, 181, no. 3, pl. 30.
Jacob Bean European Drawings Recently Acquired, 1972–1975. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1975, no. 77.
Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez Historia del dibujo en España de la Edad Media a Goya. Exh. cat. Catedra, 1986, p. 204, no. 90, fig. D3.
Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, Nicola Spinosa Jusepe de Ribera 1591-1652 Exh. cat., September 18 - November 29, 1992. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. New York, 1992, p. 204, fig. 90.
Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, Nicola Spinosa Ribera 1591-1652 Exh. cat., Madrid, Museo del Prado, June 2 - August 16, 1992. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 1992, p. 3, no. 3.
Marina Cellini Disegni della Biblioteca Comunale di Urbania. La Collezione Ubaldini, Catalogo generale. 2, Regione Marche, 1999, p. 317, under no. 446.
Gabriele Finaldi "Dibujos inéditos y otros pocos conocidos de Jusepe de Ribera." Boletín del Museo del Prado. Vol. 23, no. 41, 2005, pp. 27-29, 42 n.15, fig. 9.
Carmen Bambach "A New Ribera Drawing Among Michelangelos." Apollo. no. 568, September 2009, p. 55, fig. 9.
Jonathan Brown, Lisa A. Banner, A. Schulz et al. The Spanish Manner: Drawings from Ribera to Goya. Exh. cat., The Frick Collection, New York (October 5, 2010 - January 9, 2011). New York, 2010, pp. 30-31, no. 5 (entry by Jonathan Brown).
Linda Wolk-Simon, Carmen C. Bambach An Italian Journey. Drawings from the Tobey Collection: Correggio to Tiepolo. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (May 12 - August 15, 2010). New York, 2010, pp. 153-54, under no. 46, fig, 46.2 (entry by Carmen C. Bambach).
Viviana Farina "Metropolitan Museum Journal" A Bat and Two Ears and Jusepe de Ribera’s Triumphant Virtue. 55, 2020, fig. no. 1, p. 136.
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