Page 33 - Luca Giordano - Liberation of St Peter

Visitors to the city commented on the poverty and oppres-
sion of the lower classes which was a common problem
in southern Italy. During the mid- seventeenth century
the Mediterranean region in general had become margin-
alised due to competition with the new power system
based on the Atlantic where the northern kingdoms were
establishing themselves as the most advanced regions of
Europe.3
In contrast to a trend that had been established during
the Renaissance when artists from the north of Italy and
beyond the Alps flocked to the south, southerners now
looked to the north for ideas and work. Giordano seems
to have been aware of the artistic crisis looming over
Naples as he carried out most of his studies outside the
city. In 1664 he even went to Venice to work. Over time
he was to execute some of his most valuable work outside
of Naples, a fact which has never been adequately empha-
sised. Rome had become the artistic capital of Europe and
Giordano also spent relatively lengthy periods of time
there particularly in 1650-51, 1654 and 1656.Whilst he
was in Rome he studied both ancient and modern works
absorbing all the most up to date artistic tendencies.
While resident in Naples Giordano’s most significant patron religious orders had huge financial means and thus
appears to have been the Flemish merchant-collector,
Gaspar Roomer, who bought his earliest paintings and
showed him his great collection of prints; it was probably
through Roomer’s collection that Giordano came to know
the work of Albrecht Dürer and Lucas van Leyden. The
sources for his early paintings were derived either from
Flanders and Germany, or from Rome and Venice. His
interest in northern European art remained important
throughout his life. Having exhausted his love for the
Renaissance masters as a boy he now studied the works of
Rubens and Rembrandt. Of course this was something of
a paradox as after 1656 Giordano had become the leader
of the Neapolitan school, despite being the artist most
disconnected from Neapolitan art of the first half of the
seventeenth century (apart from his Riberesque phase).
There were attempts in Naples to reignite an interest
in culture but results were slow to come.Around the mid-
dle of the century several scientists - Tommaso Cornelio,
Leonardo Di Capua, Giuseppe Valletta and Francesco
D’Andrea among others - formed a group called the
Accademia degli Investiganti.The group promoted the work
of Galileo, Descartes, Bacon and others as well as new
scientific advances being made in Europe. It has often
been suggested that the many Philosophers painted by
Giordano reflected this trend. However, these scientists
soon ran into conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities.
They were accused of atheism and the Accademia closed
only a few years after it had opened.
Following the plague of 1656 the city was increasingly
dominated by the Church. New legislation allowed reli-
gious establishments to expand and to acquire land within
the city which, because of the number of priests, convents
and churches, came to be known as the NewThebaid.The
population at this time was in the region of 200,000 and
there were more than one hundred convents (of which
twenty-five belonged to the Dominicans, twenty-two to
the Franciscans and seven to the Jesuits), as well as
20,000 priests and nuns. The 500 churches and many
dominated the world of the arts. Grandiose religious
celebrations took place after the plague had ended. In
response to criticism at the great expense involved, the
Church responded “when it comes to devotion, Naples
can overcome herself.”4 Visitors were struck by the
lavishness of the ornaments in the churches5 and by the
extraordinary devotion of the people. As a result, churches
and convents became the major patrons of Giordano and
other Neapolitan artists for generations to come.
3. G. Galasso,‘Napoli al tempo di Luca Giordano’, in Luca
Giordano1634-1705, catalogue of the exhibition, Naples 2001, p. 25.
4. R. De Maio, Società e vita religiosa a Napoli nell’età moderna, 1656-
1799, Naples 1971, p. 6.
5. Ib., p. 108.
31