Venus and Mars with putti

Three other autograph versions of the present lot, which is datable to c.1670, are known, with the prime composition probably being in the Louvre, Paris (see O. Ferrari & G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano, Naples 1992, vol. I, p. 290, cat. no. 237, reproduced, vol. II, p. 586, plate 313) which is slightly larger than the present work (63 by 76 cm.); a secondary, possibly studio version is listed by Scavizzi as in a private collection, Florence (see ibid., vol. I, p. 290, cat. no. 238, reproduced, vol. II, p. 587, plate 314) of the same size as the present work. A further version of the composition, with an additional figure to the lower left, was sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 22 January 2004, lot 77 for $78,000.