Luca Giordano Naples, 1634 – 1705
Christ Among the Doctors c. 1685
Fresco on lime; on a wicker support 110 cm. diameter
Provenance: Commissioned by Andrea del Rosso (1640-1715), Florence, while the artist was a guest at his home, circa 1685, listed in their inventory of 1689, thence by descent. Private collection, Florence, where acquired by the present owner.
Exhibited: Paris, Petit Palais, Luca Giordano (1634-1705) The triumph of the Neapolitan painting, 14 Nov. 2019 - 23 Feb. 2020
Literature: M. Gualandi, Memorie originali italiane riguardanti le Belle Arti, II, Bologna, 1841, p. 118. O. Ferrari and G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano, Naples, 1966, II, p. 330 (under "Paintings not traced", listed in the collection of Andrea, Ottavio and Lorenzo del Rosso, Florence). S. Meloni Trkulja, ‘Luca Giordano a Firenze’, in Paragone, 1972, 267, pp. 25–74; O. Ferrari, ‘I tempi di Firenze’, in O. Ferrari, G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano. L’opera completa, Napoli, 1992, 2 vol., I, pp. 77 – 105, p. 102, p. 230, n. 67; F. Baldassarri, M. Francucci, Luca Castrichini, Luca Giordano. Due tondi “su la calce” per i Del Rosso, Todi 2017.
The present tondo is a rare surviving example of a 17th century ‘portable fresco.’ The unusual support, reproducing the effect of a decoration on wall, permitted Luca Giordano to excel in his rapid painting style, and display his extraordinarily inventive approach to painting.
Giordano developed the wickertype structure, which he then prepared with a layer of lime plaster, to provide him with what is essentially a fresco surface. The swiftness required for painting in the fresco technique played to the natural strengths of Giordano, whose moniker, Fa Presto referred to the speed with which he executed his work.
Girodano’s Christ Among the Doctors, along with its pendant, the Christ and the Woman of Samaria (private collection), once formed part of the prestigious del Rosso collection, one of the most influential families in late-17th century Florence. Giordano enjoyed a close relationship with the family and during his Florentine sojourn was Andrea del Rosso’s house-guest. It was at this time, while acting as pittore di casa (“house painter”), that the artist produced this painting. The two tondi were included in a detailed inventory of the palazzo compiled in 1689 and later published by Michelangelo Gualandi in 1841, “la Sammaritana al pozzo, tondo a buon fresco su la calce” (“the Samaritan woman at the well, tondo in good fresco on lime”; op. cit.). At that time, two
further paintings on the same support, now lost, were recorded: ‘Mad.a con Giesù il culla, san Gius.e e San Giov.e al natu.e fatte di buon fresco’ (‘Madonna and Jesus seated, Saint John nude made in good fresco’) and la ‘Carità con tre puttini’ (‘Charity with three little putti’).
Giordano was born in 1634 in Naples, where he trained with his father, the painter Antonio Giordano. Through the backing of the Viceroy of Naples, the artist entered the studio of Jusepe de Ribera. After Ribera’s death in 1652, the young Giordano moved to Rome, assisting Pietro da Cortona with important commissions. By 1674 he had completed three altarpieces for the church of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, where he absorbed the rich colouring of Titian and Veronese. From 1692 to 1702 Giordano served as court painter to King Charles II of Spain, decorating, among other important works, the ceilings of the Escorial, the Cathedral of Toledo and the Buen Retiro in Madrid. Following his tenure, he returned a wealthy man to his native Naples, leaving the huge sum of 300,000 ducats to his son in 1705.