Donne gladiatrici

The costumes say ancient Rome, but the fight Ribera painted had happened within living memory. He made this in Naples in 1636, one of a large set of scenes from Roman history ordered for a Spanish royal palace, and dressed his subject in classical robes to match the series. The event underneath is a Naples scandal from 1552, when two women, Isabella de Carazzi and Diambra de Pottinella, are said to have dueled over the same man in front of a marquis and a crowd. Ribera stages the last moment. One woman stands in cold profile, sword ready, while the other has already gone down. Whether it happened as told, Naples clearly enjoyed repeating it.