El Perdón y la furia and José de Ribera’s Journey from Faith to Magic

Abstract

This article analyses the various components of a graphic novel, El Perdón y la furia [Forgiveness and Fury] by Antonio Altarriba and Keko, about the Baroque painter José de Ribera. It does so within a framework drawn from art history and studies the transgressive role of images through citation, intertextual borrowing, or creation by Keko in the manner of Ribera. A comparative analysis of the artist’s biography and the graphic narration uncovers a series of parallels between historically attested and fictitious events that can be seen as the common thread in a thriller based on the fight against power. It concludes by returning to the same themes within a contemporary setting, while Ribera’s story and that of his present-day fictional counterpart simultaneously reveal human truths.