Studies van ogen c. 1622 - 1640

Curator: Looking at this sheet, "Studies van ogen," made sometime between 1622 and 1640 by Jusepe de Ribera, I’m immediately drawn to its dedication to a single, albeit complex, element: the eye. What strikes you first about this rather intense constellation of eyeballs? Editor: They're so...dissected. Like scientific specimens pinned to a board, yet there's also a melancholic air about them. I feel I am glimpsing into a very private space of feeling laid bare, quite literally in fact. It almost feels voyeuristic to observe so closely! Curator: An excellent point about voyeurism. This is etching and it reveals an approach of seeing that mirrors art academies, with their focus on observing every detail—training to see every tiny shift of muscle and fold. Ribera is basically showcasing his grasp of human anatomy, distilling it into studies of expression, but they do, to me at least, exude an almost disturbing, cold precision. Editor: The composition is interesting, too. I can't decide if they feel haphazardly thrown together, like someone rifling through a notebook...or highly considered with each set carefully curated against the next to elicit varying emotional responses. Some appear deeply shadowed, hinting perhaps at inner turmoil while others are light, airy. They don't feel at all unified but still, each demands contemplation. Curator: I believe it's both! Academic drawing traditionally focuses on a fragment that would later enable the production of ideal figures. The eyes vary, too—some clearly unfinished, others with meticulous cross-hatching building up volume. I notice, also, Ribera has etched two signature stamps into the plate as a kind of doubling effect we could muse about! Editor: Almost a study of the artist’s signature gaze too, his artistic viewpoint rendered within each careful line. As if each eye is channeling his vision…It feels now like I am trapped inside Ribera’s creative laboratory as he masters his observational powers. All I need now is for them all to wink! Curator: Precisely! It gives such insight into Ribera's methods of art production, and into this early modern way of sectioning out parts of a body. Let’s move on before we fall completely under their spell!