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Lot Essay
This picture was first published in 1970 by Walther Vitzthum (loc. cit.) who connected it with a picture of the same subject in the church of San Pietro a Castello, Venice. Giordano here employs the same compositional structure as that set out in the Venetian canvas, but with an entirely new arrangement of the figures and details. As Scavizzi observes, this picture 'riprende il nucleo tematico, senza tuttavia esserne una replica neppure parziale' (loc. cit.).
Scavizzi dates the present canvas to circa 1665, the year of Giordano's first visit to Venice, identifying it as possibly the 'quadro grande con Anime del Purgatorio' owned by the Marchese Agostino Fonseca, as recorded in the Relatione of 1681 (loc. cit.). Fonseca, who is known to have housed Giordano in Venice, owned two other works by the artist - a Saint Bartholomew and a Saint Andrew, both acquired from the artist through his Neapolitan agent, Sebastiano Lopez Hierro de Castro.
Scavizzi dates the present canvas to circa 1665, the year of Giordano's first visit to Venice, identifying it as possibly the 'quadro grande con Anime del Purgatorio' owned by the Marchese Agostino Fonseca, as recorded in the Relatione of 1681 (loc. cit.). Fonseca, who is known to have housed Giordano in Venice, owned two other works by the artist - a Saint Bartholomew and a Saint Andrew, both acquired from the artist through his Neapolitan agent, Sebastiano Lopez Hierro de Castro.