Luca Giordano

LUCA GIORDANO (Naples, 1634 - 1705).
"Adoration of the shepherds".
Oil on canvas.
It presents Repainting and restorations on the pictorial surface.
Signed in the lower central area.
Measurements: 161 x 257 cm; 191 x 277 cm (frame).
This intimate scene represents a Nativity conceived according to the fully baroque precepts that characterize the production of Luca Giordano, whose technical mastery and extraordinary stylistic versatility are particularly clear in this work. The focal point is the Child, whose body radiates a supernatural light that organizes the entire pictorial space and allows Giordano to display his unmistakable mastery of chiaroscuro, modulating the volumes with a luminous transition of great refinement. The Virgin, leaning tenderly towards the newborn, presents a softly idealized face that reveals the painter's inclination towards generous beauty and affectionate grace, while the figure of St. Joseph, located on the right and defined by an elegant twist, contributes to close the composition around the central luminous axis. In the surrounding half-light, shepherds, animals and a choir of angels descend from the upper zone, configuring a dynamic and theatrical narrative device, characteristic of Giordano's ability to combine naturalness and magnificence.
The style evidences the artist's own virtuosity: the rapid but precise brushstroke, the dramatic lighting, the anatomical fluency and the ease with which he articulates numerous groups without losing compositional clarity. Giordano had already treated this same theme in a work preserved in the Louvre Museum, where spiritual illumination plays a similar role, although in the present painting the spatial and competitive arrangement is closer to his Adoration of the Magi, belonging to the collection of the Palace of the Marquises of Viana. This affinity is visible in the organization of the characters, in the vivacity of the gestures and in the enveloping atmosphere that surrounds the scene.
Painter and engraver, known in Spain as Lucas Jordán, Giordano enjoyed great popularity during his lifetime, both in his native Italy and in our country. However, after his death his work was often criticized for its speed of execution, opposed to the Greco-Latin aesthetics. It is believed that he was formed in the environment of Ribera, whose style he followed at first. However, he soon traveled to Rome and Venice, where he studied Veronese, whose influence is perceived from then on in his work. This trip was key to the maturation of his style, as well as the influences of other artists such as Mattia Preti, Rubens, Bernini and, above all, Pietro da Cortona. At the end of the 1670s Giordano began his great mural decorations (Montecassino and San Gregorio Armeno in Naples), which were followed from 1682 by other projects, including the mural paintings in the gallery and library of the Palazzo Medici Ricardi in Florence. In 1692 he was called to Madrid to carry out mural works in the monastery of El Escorial, where he worked from 1692 to 1694. Later he also painted the office and bedroom of Charles II in the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, and after these he undertook the paintings of the Casón del Buen Retiro (ca. 1697), the sacristy of the cathedral of Toledo (1698), the royal chapel of the Alcázar and San Antonio de los Portugueses (1699). However, royal commissions ceased with the arrival of Philip V in 1701 and the beginning of the War of Succession, so Giordano returned to Naples in 1702, although from there he continued to send paintings to Spain. Today Giordano's works are kept in the most important art galleries around the world, including the Prado Museum, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Louvre in Paris, the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna, the Metropolitan in New York and the National Gallery in London.