Page 30 - Luca Giordano - Liberation of St Peter
P. 30
A NOTE ON LUCA GIORDANO’S
BIOGRAPHIES1
t was once said that Luca Giordano’s images the Medici courts in Italy, and to be appointed to the
Spanish court as official painter for Charles II.5 Gior-
I seemed to be ‘painted in one Breath’2. Giordano dano’s knowledge and understanding of contemporary
produced so many works, so quickly, that he was art and its history allowed him to produce compositions
known by many as ‘Luca fa presto’ [Luca works fast with a ‘sweet admixture of ancient and modern.’6
or Luca the fast worker].3 This nickname could produce
an image of an effortless, careless artist, who, in fact, had Luca Giordano was born in Naples on October 18,
more important qualities such as Giordano’s ability to 1634.7 His two biographers, Francesco Saverio Baldi-
absorb many diverse sources.4These talents led him to be nucci and Bernardo De Dominici tell us that Giordano’s
sought out by many leading institutions of his day, such as first name was Agostino, only to be renamed Luca after
his parents decided he would be trained as a painter.8
1. This note is taken from a text by Sky Huvard entitled Luca Giordano’s skill as a painter is illustrated by an often told
Giordano’s Life and Interpretation of Saint Paul the Hermit story from his youth. His father, Antonio was commis-
published in 2004 and available on the worldwide webhttp: sioned to paint angels in fresco in a local chapel, but since
//www.cybozone.com/vcu/Luca_Giodano%27s_Life_and_ he was not a fresco painter himself, he went to get help
Interpretation_of_Saint_Paul_the_Hermit.pdf from another artist while rejecting young Luca’s offer.9
Upon Antonio’s return, two angels had been applied, one
2. Luca Giordano, Luca Giordano, 1634-1705 (Napoli: Electa as a sketch and the other painted in. Luca admitted to
Napoli, 2001), 17. authoring this ‘inaspettata novitá’ [unexpected novelty]
of which his father inquired about, then challenged him
3. Sue Reed, Richard Welsh, Italian Etchers of the Renaissance and to finish the second angel as he watched.10 Upon its com-
Baroque (Boston: MFA Publications, 1997), 286. pletion, Antonio ‘knelt down to thank God that he had
been given a son of such talent.11 Soon after, a viceroy of
4. Giordano, 17. Naples introduced Giordano to his new master, Jusepe
5. Ibid, 13. de Ribera.12
6. Ibid, 13.
7. Judith Colton, A Taste for Angels: Neapolitan Painting in North The apprenticeship to Ribera is evident in Giordano’s
style, and many of his early works can be confused with
America, 1650-1750 (New Haven:Yale University Art Gallery, Ribera’s. After the death of Ribera in 1652, Giordano
1987), 113.
8. Ibid, 114.
9. Ibid, 114.
10. Ibid,114
11. Ibid, 114.
12. Ibid, 114.
28
