FRANCESCO RIBALTA (2 June 1565 – 12 January 1628), also known as Francisco Ribaltá or de Ribalta, was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period, mostly of religious subjects. He became among the first followers in Spain of the austere tenebrist style of Caravaggio.
The tenebrist style gathered a number of adherents in Spain and was to influence the pre-eminent Baroque or Golden Age Spanish painters, especially Zurbarán, but also Velázquez and Murillo. Even the art of still life in Spain, The Bodegón, was often painted in a similar stark and austere style.
Among the direct disciples of Francesco were his son, Juan Ribalta, Antonio Bisquert, and his son-in-law, Vicente Castelló. Ribalta died in Valencia on 12 January 1628.
