Norton Simon Museum

Do you prefer sculpture or painting? 🤔

Seated at a wooden table, a blind man uses his hands to explore a carved head, while a painting beside him goes unnoticed. By depicting the sense of touch in this way, Jusepe de Ribera engaged in a long-standing debate over the merits of sculpture versus painting.

Sculpture was considered the most accessible of the arts, since it could be understood through touch and vision. In his naturalistic rendering of the sculpture, however, Ribera also made a case for the virtuosity of painting. The artist used paint to create effects of texture and weight, emphasizing the man’s wrinkled hands supporting the heavy bust. Through vision, the painting appeals to the sense of touch, inviting viewers to imagine the sculpture’s smooth contours under their own fingertips.

__
Jusepe de Ribera (Spanish, 1591–1652), The Sense of Touch, c. 1615–16, oil on canvas, The Norton Simon Foundation