When I lived in Xàtiva in 2001, the town where my husband was born, I walked past the statue of José de Ribera every day. Our flat was on the same street as the basilica and the old hospital where my husband was born, and at the other end was the statue of José de Ribera, or Jusepe, as he is called in the Valencian language.
José de Ribera was born in Xàtiva in 1591. His father was Simón Ribera, a shoemaker by trade, and his mother was Margarita Cucó. Although there are many documentary and bibliographical sources describing many aspects of Ribera's life and work, there is nothing about his childhood and youth in Xàtiva.