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拍品專文
Oreste Ferrari has confirmed the attribution of the present work on copper to Giordano on the basis of a photograph (written communication to Patrick Matthiesen, 29 September 1992). Ferrari dates the painting to circa 1685, when the artist was executing a large-scale Destiny of the Virgin for the church of Santa Maria in Campitelli in Rome. Both versions were completed prior to Giordano's return to Florence, where he was to continue the decoration of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi.
Giordano was born in 1634 in Naples, where he trained with his father, the painter Antonio Giordano. Through the backing of the Viceroy of Naples, the artist entered the studio of Jusepe de Ribera. After Ribera's death in 1652, the young Giordano moved to Rome, assisting Pietro da Cortona with important commissions. By 1674 he had completed three altarpieces for the church of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, where he absorbed the rich coloring of Titian and Veronese. From 1692 to 1702 Giordano served as court painter to King Charles II of Spain, decorating, among other important works, the ceilings of the Escorial, the Cathedral of Toledo and the Buen Retiro in Madrid. Following his tenure he returned a wealthy man to his native Naples, leaving the huge sum of 300,000 ducats to his son in 1705.
The present composition is a fine example of Giordano's personal idiom, a confluence of Caravaggesque action, Roman Baroque lighting and Venetian color. The subject of The Destiny of the Virgin prefigures a later scene from the life of the Virgin, the Immaculate Conception. The veneration of the Virgin in the seventeenth century was a direct result of the Counter-Reformation, and the theme of the Immaculate Conception in particular was codified in 1649 by the Spanish painter and art-censor to the Inquisition, Francesco Pacheco.
In Giordano's intimate composition Anne and Joachim support the young Virgin, who holds her hands in prayer, gazes up at the Dove of the Holy Spirit (a reference to her role in the Annunciation) and crushes a snake with her left foot (a reference to her role as the Second Eve, destined to come and vanquish Satan in the form of a serpent).
Giordano was born in 1634 in Naples, where he trained with his father, the painter Antonio Giordano. Through the backing of the Viceroy of Naples, the artist entered the studio of Jusepe de Ribera. After Ribera's death in 1652, the young Giordano moved to Rome, assisting Pietro da Cortona with important commissions. By 1674 he had completed three altarpieces for the church of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, where he absorbed the rich coloring of Titian and Veronese. From 1692 to 1702 Giordano served as court painter to King Charles II of Spain, decorating, among other important works, the ceilings of the Escorial, the Cathedral of Toledo and the Buen Retiro in Madrid. Following his tenure he returned a wealthy man to his native Naples, leaving the huge sum of 300,000 ducats to his son in 1705.
The present composition is a fine example of Giordano's personal idiom, a confluence of Caravaggesque action, Roman Baroque lighting and Venetian color. The subject of The Destiny of the Virgin prefigures a later scene from the life of the Virgin, the Immaculate Conception. The veneration of the Virgin in the seventeenth century was a direct result of the Counter-Reformation, and the theme of the Immaculate Conception in particular was codified in 1649 by the Spanish painter and art-censor to the Inquisition, Francesco Pacheco.
In Giordano's intimate composition Anne and Joachim support the young Virgin, who holds her hands in prayer, gazes up at the Dove of the Holy Spirit (a reference to her role in the Annunciation) and crushes a snake with her left foot (a reference to her role as the Second Eve, destined to come and vanquish Satan in the form of a serpent).