The Locksmith

In the southern Italian city of Naples in the seventeenth century, locksmiths were seen as shady characters. Not only did they make locks and keys, but locksmiths were also said to provide thieves with the help they needed in picking locks and forging keys. This is a rare instance of a locksmith being portrayed alone as the subject for a relatively large painting. It is unlikely, however, that it represents a specific individual.  The work probably relates to an engraving of a locksmith in the series of prints of Le Arti di Bologna (The Arts of Bologna) - a group of images depicting various trades, after designs by the Bolognese artist Annibale Carracci.  

The painting was bought by the Gallery’s founders Francis Bourgeois and Noel Desenfans as a Caravaggio and has since been attributed to a number of other Italian and Spanish artists. Today it is believed that The Locksmith was painted by a Neapolitan follower of Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652), a prominent seventeenth-century Spanish artist working in Naples. The picture is similar in format and size to Ribera's series of paintings called The Five Senses, which were painted before 1620 The dramatic light effects draw further comparison with this Spanish master.