22/08/2001

A painting acquired by the Prado, Spain’s national gallery, has become the subject of vigorous debate among art historians. Sotheby’s is certain the painting Raising of Lazarus is by Jusepe de Ribera, whereas Professor Alfonso Pérez Sanchéz, ex-director of the Prado, rejects the attribution. Sotheby’s sold the painting in January for $ 1,800,000 (€ 1,962,000) as the work of Jusepe de Ribera, known as the Spagnoletto (1591-1652). Their catalogue referred to it as "an unknown work by the youthful Jusepe de Ribera", painted in Rome before he left for Naples. The painting is now in storage at the Prado while its attribution is being queried by Professor Sánchez, a specialist in Spanish baroque painting, who is categorical that the work is not by the artist. For the moment the painting has neither been presented to the acquisitions committee nor to a full sitting of the Prado’s governing body whose president, Eduardo Serra, has been warned about the controversy surrounding it. (James Goulder)