LUCA GIORDANO (Naples, 1634 - 1705).
"Apparition of Christ to Constantine.
Oil on panel. Marbled back.
Measurements: 115 x 64 cm; 131,5 x 80 cm (frame).
This is a splendid work by Luca Giordano, an outstanding representative of the Italian Baroque. It is a markedly scenographic composition in which, most probably, the narrative recorded by Eusebius of Caesarea (ca. 263-30-339) in his Vita Constantini is represented. In it he explains how Constantine was marching with his army when he looked up at the sun and saw a chrism in the sky, just before the battle of the Milvian Bridge against Maxentius in 312. At first Constantine did not know the meaning of the apparition, but the following night he had a dream in which Christ explained to him that he should use the sign against his enemies. Giordano depicts the exact moment when Constantine is fast asleep with the soldiers, while Christ appears to him with the Roman labarum, the banner from which the chrismion will hang.
Luca Giordano, the most outstanding Neapolitan painter of the late 17th century and one of the leading representatives of the late Italian Baroque, was a painter and engraver known in Spain as Lucas Jordán, who enjoyed great popularity during his lifetime, both in his native Italy and in Spain. However, after his death his work was often criticised for its speed of execution, which was at odds with the Greco-Latin aesthetic. It is thought that he trained in the circle of Ribera, whose style he initially followed. However, he soon travelled to Rome and Venice, where he studied Veronese, whose influence is evident in his work. This trip was key to the maturing of his style, as were the influences of other artists such as Mattia Preti, Rubens, Bernini and, above all, Pietro da Cortona. In the late 1670s Giordano began his large-scale mural decorations (Montecassino and San Gregorio Armeno in Naples), followed from 1682 onwards 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 paint murals in the monastery of El Escorial, where he worked from 1692 to 1694. He then 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 Toledo cathedral (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 the Spanish Succession, and Giordano returned to Naples in 1702, although he continued to send paintings to Spain from there. Today Giordano's works are housed in the most important art galleries throughout the world, including the Prado, the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, the Louvre in Paris, the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna, the Metropolitan in New York and the National Gallery in London.