117 - Juan Dose, Giovanni Dò (Xàtiva (?) 1604 (?) – Naples 1656)

Juan Dose, Giovanni Dò (Xàtiva (?) 1604 (?) – Naples 1656) Profile of a Saint or Philosopher Oil on canvas 47.5 x 35.5 cm There are numerous attributions cited both in Ribera’s catalog and in the works published in G. Porzio, *The School of Ribera, Giovanni Dò, and the “Family Circle of 17th-Century Neapolitan Artists,”* pp. 17–70. Information about his life and early artistic career is scarce and fragmentary. In 1616, he was admitted to the Colegio de pintores in Valencia, where his name is recorded in the documents as “Juan Dose,” and he studied under Jeronimo de Espinosa. In 1626, he is documented in Naples, where he married the sister of Pacecco de Rosa; his wedding witnesses were Giovanni Battista Caracciolo and Jusepe de Ribera, known as “lo Spagnoletto,” demonstrating how well-integrated he was into the Neapolitan painting community. De Dominici included him among Ribera’s pupils, describing him both as a copyist of the master and as capable of producing paintings that perfectly adhered to the master’s style. In addition to the confusion in Ribera’s catalog, there is another issue regarding Dò: his identification with the so-called “Master of the Annunciation to the Shepherds,” a matter not yet fully resolved given the divergence of opinions among historians. Furthermore, thanks to his brother-in-law, he was in contact with the artistic circle of Massimo Stanzione; in fact, traces of Ribera’s influence can be found in the artistic development of Pacecco De Rosa and Filippo Vitale, likely due to the influential presence of Juan Dose within that Stanzionesque circle. It is thus evident that Dò was a central figure in the Neapolitan art scene of the first half of the 17th century, even though his imitative painting style has left us with a limited catalog of his works, which were likely conflated with those of other Neapolitan masters of his time. Juan Dose, Giovanni Dò (Xàtiva (?) 1604 (?) – Naples 1656) Profile of a Saint or Philosopher Oil on canvas 47.5 x 35.5 cm There are numerous references to the attribution, both in Ribera’s catalog and in the works published in G. Porzio, *La scuola di Ribera, Giovanni Dò e il “complesso familiare di artisti napoletani del secolo XVII”*, pp. 17–70.