Communion of the Apostles

This was among the last things Ribera painted, finished in 1651 a few months before he died. A Spaniard who spent his whole career in Spanish-ruled Naples, he had taken the commission back in 1638 from the prior of this charterhouse, agreeing to complete the choir's decoration for a large fee. Then came other work and, from about 1640, a long illness, so the monks waited more than a decade for their picture. It still hangs where it was meant to, in the monks' choir of the Certosa di San Martino above Naples. Ribera gives the Last Supper the deep shadow and worn, particular faces he was known for, the apostles crowded close in candle-coloured light. After his death his heirs went to court over the price, arguing he had painted 13 figures where the contract had counted on ten.