The Lamentation (B. 1; Brown 17)

Brown considers this etching, which has traditionally been associated with Ribera's painting of the subject in the National Gallery, London, as the most problematic print attributed to the artist and states that 'until very recently, it was almost universally accepted as an authentic work.' Mainly on stylistic grounds, but also due to the compositional differences between the London painting and the etching, Brown himself does not consider the print to be by the artist himself, but by one of his pupils. It could however be argued that, if a pupil had made the print after the painting, he certainly would have copied his master's composition as closely as possible, rather than changed it.