Job

The Latin inscription emerging from the old man’s mouth—NOLI ME CONDEMNARE (“do not condemn me”)—is taken from the biblical story of Job, whose piety withstood the test of a series of dire misfortunes. His resignation and communion with God are depicted here with the realism and strong contrasts of light and dark characteristic of the international followers of Italian painter Caravaggio. Although the artist remains unknown, the painting was probably made in Seville, Spain, in the artistic orbit of Francisco de Zurbarán and Diego Velázquez.