The Flagellation

First published by Vicenzo Pacelli in 2007, who dates the work to circa 1655, this represents an important addition to Giordano's early activity, and bears eloquent testimony to the pervasive influence of Caravaggio on the young artist.

Born in Naples in 1634, Giordano was the son of a painter, Antonio Giordano (c. 1597-1683), under whom he initially trained. It, however, was Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652) who had the greatest impact on his developing style. Giordano may have worked in Ribera's studio, and his early works show a marked preference for half-length figures of old men and philosophers against dark backgrounds, made famous by his master. After Ribera's death in 1652, Giordano took the opportunity to travel to Rome where he continued his studies. Here he showed his ability to assimilate a variety of influences and models, making numerous sketches in red chalk after Renaissance masters. He seems to have been particularly drawn to the work of Pietro da Cortona, the leading artist in Rome at the time, whom he may have met personally, and who was to have a lasting influence on his art.

Giordano's first trip to Rome was cut short when he returned to Naples in 1653. Nevertheless he continued to experiment with a number of styles, remaining open to a wide range of artistic influences, including the example of Mattia Preti, Guido Reni and Rubens, in the search for his own distinctive idiom. It was apparently at this time that he turned his attention to the work of Caravaggio. Naples afforded ample opportunity to study a number of late masterpieces by the artist, who resided in the city on two occasions, from 1606-7 and again in 1609-10. Caravaggio's Flagellation, painted for the de Franchis Chapel of San Domenico Maggiore (now in the Museo del Capodimonte, Naples) clearly made a huge impression on the young Giordano, for he explored the possibilities of this subject in at least three canvases: one in the Museo di San Martino, Naples (see Pacelli, op. cit., fig. 7), another in a private collection, Naples (see O. Ferrari and G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano. Nuove ricerche e inediti, Naples, 2003, no. A092, p. 47, illustrated p. 167) and the present work. While the San Martino picture owes its inspiration to Sebastiano del Piombo's treatment of the subject in the capella Borgherini in the Church of San Pietro in Montorio, Rome (which itself may have heavily influenced Caravaggio's altarpiece), the other two works by Giordano are closely comparable and seem to owe their debt directly to Caravaggio without being filtered through the work of other artists.

Both of these pictures follow Caravaggio's model in depicting Christ tied to a column that is positioned slightly left of centre. In each picture Christ is also surrounded by three main figures, one of whom kneels down in order to bind his feet, while the one on the right ties his hands. Caravaggio places the action close to the picture plane, thereby focusing entirely on the figures who are brightly lit against an impenetrably dark background. Giordano on the other hand situates the action of both his pictures in spartan interiors that are recognisably that of a prison. In the Naples picture he adds a barred window on the right and two subsidiary onlookers in the background on the left, while in the present work he broadens the viewpoint slightly, so that on the right an open portcullis is visible, while on the left another onlooker stands beneath a high, barred window. Like Caravaggio, however, he isolates the figures with an intense light, emanating from the left of the picture, that creates a dramatic tension to the composition as a whole. Giordano's depiction of Christ in the present work also echoes Caravaggio's model: naked but for a loin cloth, he is seen in a virtual mirror image of Caravaggio's contraposto pose, his head similarly bowed as he is tied to the column. In the other picture by Giordano, Christ's head is more upright, and he gazes towards the lower left in a pose that is closer to another Flagellation, by Caravaggio, also from his Neapolitan period (now in Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts). In the exhibition Luca Giordano 1634-1705 held at the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples; the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2001-2002, Professor Nicola Spinosa dated the example in a Neapolitan private collection to circa 1664-65 and notes that it was probably paired with another picture of The Resurrection (see exhibition catalogue, no. 37). Pacelli, however, prefers an earlier date of 1655-60 for this picture (op. cit.). He regards the present work as an even earlier treatment of the subject, dating it to circa 1655. Professor Scavizzi, however, opts for a middle ground, dating the painting to 1660-65, at the beginning the artist's full maturity (private communication, 23 October 2007).

We are grateful to Professor Giuseppe Scavizzi for endorsing the attribution on the basis of photographs.