Painter, born in Naples, SW Italy. He was able to work with extreme rapidity, hence his nickname, and to imitate the great masters. In 1692 he went to Madrid, at the request of Charles II of Spain, to embellish the Escorial.
Luca Giordano (October 18, 1634 - January 12, 1705) was an eclectic, peripatetic, and influential Italian late Baroque painter.
Early life and training
Born in Naples, he was the son of Antonio Giordano, an undistinguished painter. He supposedly later worked under Pietro da Cortona.
He acquired the nickname of Luca Fà-presto (Luke Work-fast). The youth obeyed his parent to the letter, and would actually not so much as pause to snatch a hasty meal, but received into his mouth, while he still worked on, the food which his father's hand supplied.
His rapidity, which belonged as much to invention as to mere handiwork, and his versatility, which enabled him to imitate other painters deceptively, earned for him two other epithets, "The Thunderbolt" (Fulmine) and "The Proteus" of painting.
Giordano acquired a style fusing Venetian and Roman styles. He was noted also for lively and showy colour, and between 1682-83 he painted various fresco series in Florence, including in the dome of Corsini Chapel of the Chiesa del Carmine. In the large block occupied by the former Medici palace, he painted the ceiling of the Biblioteca Riccardiana (Wisdom released from the Slavery of Ignorance) and the long gallery of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi.
Court painter in Spain (1692-1702)
Charles II of Spain towards 1687 invited him over to Madrid, where he remained for 10 years (1692-1702). In Spain, he produced works for the Royal Palace of Madrid, El Escorial, Toledo, and other sites.
One anecdote of Giordano's speed at painting is that, he was once asked by the Queen of Spain what his wife looked like.
In Spain he executed numerous works, continuing in the Escorial the series commenced by Cambiasi, and painting frescoes of the Triumphs of the Church, the Genealogy and Life of the Madonna, the stories of Moses,Gideon, David and the Celebrated Women of Scripture, all works of large dimensions. In Madrid he worked more in oil-colour, a Nativity there being one of his best productions.
Late masterpieces in Naples
Soon after the death of Charles in 1700, Giordano, now wealthy, returned to Naples.
Giordano had an astonishing facility, which often lead to an impression of superficiality of his works. He left many works in Rome, and far more in Naples. Of the latter, his "Christ expelling the Traders from the Temple," in the church of the Padri Girolamini, a colossal work, full of expressive "lazzaroni";
Other superior examples are the Judgment of Paris in the Berlin Museum, and Christ with the Doctors in the Temple, in the Corsini Gallery of Rome. In Florence, in his closing days, he painted the Cappella Corsini, the Galleria Riccardi and other works. In youth he etched with considerable skill some of his own paintings, such as the Slaughter of the Priests of Baal. He also painted much on the crystal borderings of looking-glasses, cabinets and others seen in many Italian palaces, and was, in this form of art, the master of Pietro Garofalo. His best pupil in painting was Paolo de Matteis.
Luca Giordano died in Naples in 1705.
Critical assessment and legacy
Giordano has been criticized as being a prolific trader of all styles, and master of none.
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