Luca Giordano (1634–1705) was one of the outstanding Neapolitan Baroque painters of the seventeenth century and among the most sought-after European artists of his day. His extraordinary career rested on two characteristics: his natural technical ability and untiring energy. He was nicknamed Luca Fa Presto ('Luca works quickly') due to his prodigious speed of execution. Furthermore, he impressed his contemporaries with his enviable skill at imitating the styles of other artists, such as Albrecht Dürer, Titian and Paolo Veronese.
Luca Giordano (1634–1705) 
Giordano was born in Naples and almost certainly received his artistic training under Jusepe de Ribera. The darkly arresting style and subject matter of Ribera had a profound influence on Giordano, as evidenced by two impressive early works. The Death of Seneca (1650–1675) shows the famed Roman philosopher in the process of his suicide as ordered by the tyrant Nero. Here, Giordano demonstrates his mastery of anatomy by showing Seneca semi-nude and illuminated against a theatrically dark background.
A similar canvas, The Death of Archimedes, proves Giordano was adept at creating moments of heightened drama. The Greek mathematician Archimedes was ordered to appear before the Roman general Marcellus but declined until he had solved a mathematical problem he was working on. An enraged Roman soldier swiftly killed him.
Giordano has captured the moment of fatal violence with unflinching realism. Note the youthful muscularity of the soldiers compared to the frail Archimedes who is powerless against their physical aggression.
Eager to see the artistic treasures in cities beyond Naples, Giordano travelled to Rome, Florence and Venice. He soon established a network of enthusiastic patrons and began receiving commissions to produce frescoes in palaces and churches.
By the 1670s Giordano's status was well established. It was during this time that his reputation as a remarkable copyist resulted in one of the largest and most ambitious canvases of his career. Bacchus and Ariadne (1674–1677), now held by the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery in Coventry, is based on Titian's famous masterpiece in the National Gallery, London.
Giordano painted his version for the wealthy Rosso family in Florence, where it covered an entire wall in their palace. But rather than produce a slavish copy, Giordano showed his innovative side by making a centrepiece in the form of the golden chariot. He also gave greater prominence to the overweight and drunken Silenus on the far right.
At more than five metres in length, the painting's vast proportions allowed Giordano to achieve a more rhythmical flow of movement and emphasise the exuberant hedonism of Bacchus and his followers. Simply put, Giordano took a Renaissance masterpiece and gave it a Baroque makeover.
The Triumph of Bacchus with Ariadne
c.1682
Luca Giordano (1634–1705) 
Giordano later returned to the same subject in a similarly colossal canvas now in Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. Yet for this version, he reversed the direction of action from left to right. Giordano evidently revelled at the chance to display the full range of his artistic talents in ambitious and dynamic group compositions such as this one, incorporating as it does figurative, landscape and still life painting.
The 1680s saw Giordano at his imperious best. He was inundated with commissions for frescoes but still found time to produce some of his greatest oil paintings. Any visitor to the National Gallery in London will no doubt be familiar with Giordano's Perseus turning Phineas and his Followers to Stone (early 1680s).
Perseus turning Phineas and his Followers to Stone
early 1680s
Luca Giordano (1634–1705) 
To ensure he achieved a high degree of visual immediacy, Giordano divided the composition between foreground and background, and between left and right. He manages to present the classical tale in both an accessible and compelling manner, despite this being a highly theatrical and geometrically complex work.
Among the many paintings by Giordano in UK public collections is a series of ten oil studies (out of twelve; two are in private hands) he made in preparation for the ambitious ceiling frescoes in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence. These provide a fascinating insight into Giordano's working methods and how he tackled a complex cycle based around the theme of mankind's betterment through wisdom and virtue.
The Apotheosis of the Medici (early 1680s) has all the extravagance one would expect from a Baroque fresco, while The Cave of Eternity shows Giordano's skill at weaving together complex figurative symbolism.
In contrast to his epic fresco work, Giordano occasionally turned to smaller scale and less complicated visual narratives, such as The Devil Tempting Christ to Turn Stones into Bread (c.1685). The two-person composition was rare for Giordano, but more straightforward paintings like this reveal he was equally adept at being an engaging storyteller whether on an intimate or grand scale.
The Devil Tempting Christ to Turn Stones into Bread
c.1685
Luca Giordano (1634–1705) 
Giordano’s international fame was confirmed in 1692 when he was called to Spain by Charles II. He spent ten years there producing major decorative commissions in Madrid, Toledo and the Escorial. While in Spain, Giordano saw first-hand the paintings of Diego Velázquez. On seeing Las Meninas (1656–1657), Giordano famously remarked that it was 'the theology of painting', a reference to theology's superiority to other branches of knowledge.
Las Meninas
1656–1657, oil on canvas by Diego Velázquez (1599–1600) 
His admiration for the Spanish master can be seen in A Homage to Velázquez (about 1692–1700). This enigmatic painting has long puzzled viewers. Giordano included a self-portrait in the lower right, while the central figure on the upper tier may or may not be Velázquez.
What is certain is the loose handling of paint is Giordano's tribute to Velázquez and his own daringly confident brushwork. For many years the painting was considered to be by Velázquez himself, which proves at least how skilful Giordano was at assimilating the styles of other painters.
Giordano returned to Naples in 1702, following the death of Charles II. In Spain he had developed a lighter, airy and more open manner of painting which appeared to herald the Rococo style of the early eighteenth century. By the time Giordano died in 1705, his reputation was known throughout Europe and he had amassed a considerable personal fortune.
Looking back on the achievements of Giordano it is easy to understand why he was such a celebrated artist. The breadth of his paintings, in size, style and subject, remains nothing short of astonishing, as does the scale of his enormous output. It is said that before Pablo Picasso, Giordano was the most prolific artist who had ever lived.
For many years Giordano had only a modest status in European art history, but more recently his critical fortunes have improved and he is increasingly recognised as one of the key figures of Baroque painting.
Jonathan Hajdamach, independent art historian
This content was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation
