This artistic terrorism won for Jusepe de Ribera his sinister reputation, and it must be admitted that it had depraved and perverted qualities. The sight of blood and torture as the source of pleasure is more pagan than the joy of life and the laughing sensuality of the Renaissance. It must not be thought that these ideas of violence exhaust Ribera’s art. They are supplemented by sweet ideas, and in his work horrible pictures alternate with tender ones.